Engineers at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley, Bohdan Wesely, right, and Eli Hiss, left, complete a fit check of the two halves of a space capsule that will study the clouds of Venus for signs of life.

Led by Rocket Lab of Long Beach, California, and their partners at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Rocket Lab’s Venus mission will be the first private mission to the planet.

NASA’s role is to help the commercial space endeavor succeed by providing expertise in thermal protection of small spacecraft. Invented at Ames, NASA’s Heatshield for Extreme Entry Environment Technology (HEEET) – the brown, textured material covering the bottom of the capsule in this photo – is a woven heat shield designed to protect spacecraft from temperatures up to 4,500 degrees Fahrenheit. The probe will deploy from Rocket Lab’s Photon spacecraft bus, taking measurements as it descends through the planet’s atmosphere.

Teams at Ames work with private companies, like Rocket Lab, to turn NASA materials into solutions such as the heat shield tailor-made for this spacecraft destined for Venus, supporting growth of the new space economy. NASA’s Small Spacecraft Technology program, part of the agency’s Space Technology Mission Directorate, supported development of the heat shield for Rocket Lab’s Venus mission.

The next set of NASA science and technology demonstrations is on its way to the lunar surface, where they will gather data about Earth’s nearest neighbor and help pave the way for American astronauts to explore the Moon and beyond, for the benefit of all.

Carrying NASA instruments as part of the agency’s CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative and Artemis campaign, Intuitive Machines’ IM-2 mission launched at 7:16 p.m. EST, Feb. 26, aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 39A at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Intuitive Machines’ lunar lander is scheduled to touch down on Thursday, March 6, in Mons Mouton, a plateau in the Moon’s South Pole.

“With each CLPS mission, the United States is leading the way in expanding our reach and refining our capabilities, turning what was once dreams into reality,” said NASA acting Administrator Janet Petro. “These science and technology demonstrations are more than payloads – they represent the foundation for future explorers who will live and work on the Moon. By partnering with American industry, we are driving innovation, strengthening our leadership in space, and preparing for sending humans farther into the solar system, including Mars.”

Once on the Moon, the NASA CLPS investigations will aim to measure the potential presence of volatiles or gases from lunar soil – one of the first on-site demonstrations of resource use on the Moon. In addition, a passive Laser Retroreflector Array on the top deck of the lander will bounce laser light back at any future orbiting or incoming spacecraft to give them a permanent reference point on the lunar surface. Other technology instruments on this delivery will demonstrate a robust surface communications system and deploy a propulsive drone designed to hop across the lunar surface.

NASA’s Lunar Trailblazer spacecraft, which launched as a rideshare with the IM-2 mission, also began its journey to lunar orbit, where it will map the distribution of the different forms of water on the Moon. Lunar Trailblazer will discover where the Moon’s water is, what form it is in, and how it changes over time. Observations gathered during its two-year prime mission will contribute to the understanding of water cycles on airless bodies throughout the solar system while also supporting future human and robotic missions to the Moon by identifying where water is located. 

NASA’s Artemis campaign includes conducting more science to better understand planetary processes and evolution, to search for evidence of water and other resources, and support long-term, sustainable human exploration.

The NASA science and technology instruments that launched aboard the IM-2 mission are:

• Polar Resources Ice Mining Experiment-1 (PRIME-1): This experiment will explore the Moon’s subsurface and analyze where lunar resources may reside. The experiment’s two key instruments will demonstrate the ability to extract and analyze lunar soil to detect volatile chemical compounds that turn into gas. The two instruments will work in tandem: The Regolith and Ice Drill for Exploring New Terrains will drill into the Moon’s surface to collect samples, while the Mass Spectrometer Observing Lunar Operations will analyze these samples to determine the gas composition released across the sampling depth. The PRIME-1 technology will provide valuable data to better understand the Moon’s surface and how to work with and on it.

• Laser Retroreflector Array (LRA): This collection of eight retroreflectors will enable precision laser ranging, which is a measurement of the distance between the orbiting or landing spacecraft to the reflector on the lander. The LRA is a passive optical instrument and will function as a permanent location marker on the Moon for decades to come.   

• Micro Nova Hopper: Funded by NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate Tipping Point initiative, Intuitive Machines’ Micro Nova hopper, Grace, is designed to enable high-resolution surveying of the lunar surface under its flight path. This autonomous propulsive drone aims to deploy to the surface and hop into a nearby crater to survey the lunar surface and send science data back to the lander. It’s designed to hop in and out of a permanently shadowed region, providing a first look into undiscovered regions that may provide critical information to sustain a human presence on the Moon.

• Nokia Lunar Surface Communications System (LSCS): Also developed with funding from NASA’s Tipping Point initiative, Nokia’s LSCS 4G/LTE communications system will demonstrate cellular communications between the Intuitive Machines lander, a Lunar Outpost rover, and the Micro Nova hopper. Engineered to transmit high-definition video, command-and-control messages, and sensor and telemetry data, the LSCS aims to demonstrate an ultra-compact advanced communication solution for future infrastructure on the Moon and beyond.

Learn more about NASA’s CLPS initiative at:

https://www.nasa.gov/clps

-end-

Karen Fox / Jasmine Hopkins
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600 / 321-432-4624
karen.c.fox@nasa.gov / jasmine.s.hopkins@nasa.gov

Natalia Riusech / Nilufar Ramji
Johnson Space Center, Houston
281-483-5111
nataila.s.riusech@nasa.gov / nilufar.ramji@nasa.gov

Antonia Jaramillo
Kennedy Space Center, Florida
321-501-8425
antonia.jaramillobotero@nasa.gov

Sending instruments to the Moon supports a growing lunar economy on and off Earth, and the next flight of NASA science and technology is only days away. NASA’s CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative is a lunar delivery service that sends NASA science and technology instruments to various geographic locations on the Moon using American companies. These rapid, cost-effective commercial lunar missions at a cadence of about two per year improve our understanding of the lunar environment in advance of future crewed missions to the Moon as part of the agency’s broader Artemis campaign.  

Of the 11 active CLPS contracts, there have been three CLPS launches to date: Astrobotic’s Peregrine Mission One, which collected data in transit but experienced an anomaly that prevented it from landing on the Moon; Intuitive Machines’ IM-1 mission, which landed, tipped over, and operated on the lunar surface; and Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost Mission One that is currently enroute and scheduled to land in early March 2025. The CLPS contract awards cover end-to-end commercial payload delivery services, including payload integration, launch from Earth, landing on the surface of the Moon, and mission operations. 

NASA’s fourth CLPS flight is from Intuitive Machines with their IM-2 mission. The IM-2 mission is carrying NASA science and technology instruments to Mons Mouton, a lunar plateau just outside of 5 degrees of the South Pole of the Moon, closer to the pole than any preceding lunar mission.  

Scheduled to launch no earlier than Wednesday and land approximately eight days later, Intuitive Machines’ Nova-C lander, named Athena, will carry three NASA instruments to the lunar South Pole region – the Polar Resources Ice Mining Experiment-1 (PRIME-1) suite and the Laser Retroreflector Array (LRA). 

The PRIME-1 suite consists of two instruments, the TRIDENT drill (The Regolith Ice Drill for Exploring New Terrain) and MSolo (Mass Spectrometer observing lunar operations), which will work together to extricate lunar soil samples, known as regolith, from the subsurface and analyze their composition to further understand the lunar environment and gain insight on potential resources that can be extracted for future examination. 

The meter-long TRIDENT drill is designed to extract lunar regolith, up to about three feet below the surface. It will also measure soil temperature at varying depths below the surface, which will help to verify existing lunar thermal models that are used for ice stability calculations and resource mapping. By drilling into the lunar regolith, information is gathered to help answer questions about the lunar regolith geotechnical properties, such as soil strength, both at the surface and in the subsurface that will help inform Artemis infrastructure objectives. The data will be beneficial when designing future systems for on-site resource utilization that will use local resources to create everything from landing pads to rocket fuel. The lead development organization for TRIDENT is Honeybee Robotics, a Blue Origin Company. 

The MSOLO instrument is a mass spectrometer capable of identifying and quantifying volatiles (or gasses that easily evaporate) found at or beneath the lunar surface, including– if it’s present in the regolith within the drill’s reach – water and oxygen, brought to the surface by the TRIDENT drill. This instrument can also detect any gases that emanate from the lander, drilling process, and other payloads conducting operations on the surface. Using MSolo to study the volatile gases found on the Moon can help us understand how the lander’s presence might alter the local environment. The lead development organization is INFICON of Syracuse, New York, in partnership with NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. 

NASA’s LRA is a collection of eight retroreflectors that enable precision laser ranging, which is a measurement of the distance between the orbiting or landing spacecraft to the reflector on the lander. The LRA instrument is passive, meaning it does not power on. It will function as a permanent location marker on the Moon for decades to come, similar to its predecessors. The lead development organization is NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. 

In addition to the CLPS instruments, two technology demonstrations aboard IM-2 were developed through NASA’s Tipping Point opportunity. These are collaborations with the agency’s Space Technology Mission Directorate and industry that support development of commercial space capabilities and benefit future NASA missions.  

Intuitive Machines developed a small hopping robot, Grace, named after Grace Hopper, computer scientist and mathematician. Grace will deploy as a secondary payload from the lander and enable high-resolution imaging and science surveying of the lunar surface, including permanently shadowed craters around the landing site. Grace is designed to bypass obstacles such as steep inclines, boulders, and craters to cover a lot of terrain while moving quickly, which is a valuable capability to support future missions on the Moon and other planets, including Mars. 

Nokia will test a Lunar Surface Communications System that employs the same cellular technology here on Earth. Reconceptualized by Nokia Bell Labs to meet the unique requirements of a lunar mission, this tipping point technology aims to demonstrate proximity communications between the lander, a Lunar Outpost rover, and the hopper. 

Launching as a rideshare alongside the IM-2 mission, NASA’s Lunar Trailblazer spacecraft also will begin its journey to lunar orbit where it will map the distribution of water – and other forms of water – on the Moon. 

Future CLPS flights will continue to send payloads to the near side, far side, and South Pole regions of the Moon where investigations and exploration are informed by each area’s unique characteristics. With a pool of 13 American companies under CLPS, including a portfolio of 11 lunar deliveries by five vendors sending more than 50 individual science and technology instruments to lunar orbit and the surface of the Moon, NASA continues to advance long-term exploration of the Moon, and beyond to Mars.   

NASA is sending revolutionary technologies to the Moon aboard Intuitive Machines’ second lunar delivery as part of the agency’s CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative and Artemis campaign to establish a long-term presence on the lunar surface. 

As part of this CLPS flight to the Moon, NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate will test novel technologies to learn more about what lies beneath the lunar surface, explore its challenging terrain, and improve in-space communication.  

The launch window for Intuitive Machines’ second CLPS delivery, IM-2, opens no earlier than Wednesday, Feb. 26 from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. After the Intuitive Machines’ Nova-C class lunar lander reaches Mons Mouton, a lunar plateau near the Moon’s South Pole region, it will deploy several NASA and commercial technologies including a drill and mass spectrometer, a new cellular communication network, and a small drone that will survey difficult terrain before returning valuable data to Earth.

Here are five things to know about this unique mission to the Moon, the technologies we are sending, and the teams making it happen!  

1. Lunar South Pole Exploration 

IM-2’s landing site is known as one of the flatter regions in the South Pole region, suitable to meet Intuitive Machines’ requirement for a lit landing corridor and acceptable terrain slope. The landing location was selected by Intuitive Machines using data acquired by NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter.  

2. New Technology Demonstrations 

NASA’s Polar Resources Ice Mining Experiment, known as PRIME-1, is a suite of two instruments – a drill and mass spectrometer – designed to demonstrate our capability to look for ice and other resources that could be extracted and used to produce propellant and breathable oxygen for future explorers. The PRIME-1 technology will dig up to about three feet below the surface into the lunar soil where it lands, gaining key insight into the soil’s characteristics and temperature while detecting other resources that may lie beneath the surface.  

Data from the PRIME-1 technology demonstration will be made available to the public following the mission, enabling partners to accelerate the development of new missions and innovative technologies.   

3. Mobile Robots

Upon landing on the lunar surface, two commercial Tipping Point technology demonstrations will be deployed near Intuitive Machines’ lander, Tipping Points are collaborations between NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate and industry that foster the development of commercial space capabilities and benefit future NASA missions. 

The first is a small hopping drone developed by Intuitive Machines. The hopper, named Grace, will deploy as a secondary payload from the lander and enable high-resolution surveying of the lunar surface, including permanently shadowed craters around the landing site. Grace is designed to bypass obstacles such as steep inclines, boulders, and craters to cover a lot of terrain while moving quickly, which is a valuable capability to support future missions on the Moon and other planets, including Mars. 

4. Lunar Surface Communication

The next Tipping Point technology will test a Lunar Surface Communications System developed by Nokia. This system employs the same cellular technology used here on Earth, reconceptualized by Nokia Bell Labs to meet the unique requirements of a lunar mission. The Lunar Surface Communications System will demonstrate proximity communications between the lander, a Lunar Outpost rover, and the hopper. 

5. Working Together

NASA is working with several U.S. companies to deliver technology and science to the lunar surface through the agency’s CLPS initiative.  

NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate plays a unique role in the IM-2 mission by strategically combining CLPS with NASA’s Tipping Point mechanism to maximize the potential benefit of this mission to NASA, industry, and the nation.  
NASA’s Lunar Surface Innovation Initiative and Game Changing Development program within the agency’s Space Technology Mission Directorate led the maturation, development, and implementation of pivotal in-situ resource utilization, communication, and mobility technologies flying on IM-2.  

Join NASA to watch full mission updates, from launch to landing on NASA+, and share your experience on social media. Mission updates will be made available on NASA’s Artemis blog.  

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Editor’s Note: This advisory was updated Feb. 26, 2025, with the mission’s targeted launch time.

Editor’s Note: This advisory was updated Feb. 26, 2025, to reflect an updated start time for the lunar delivery readiness media teleconference.

Carrying NASA science and technology to the Moon as part of the agency’s CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative and Artemis campaign, the Intuitive Machines IM-2 mission is targeted to launch no earlier than 7:16 p.m. EST, Wednesday, Feb. 26. The mission will lift off on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 39A at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Live launch coverage will air on NASA+ with prelaunch events starting Tuesday, Feb. 25. Learn how to watch NASA content through a variety of platforms, including social media. Follow all events at:

https://www.nasa.gov/live

After the launch, Intuitive Machines’ lunar lander, Athena, will spend approximately one week in transit to the Moon before landing on the lunar surface no earlier than Thursday, March 6. The lander will carry NASA science investigations and technology demonstrations to further our understanding of the Moon’s environment and help prepare for future human missions to the lunar surface, as part of the agency’s Moon to Mars exploration approach. 

Among the items on Intuitive Machines’ lander, the IM-2 mission will be one of the first on-site demonstrations of resource use on the Moon. A drill and mass spectrometer will measure the potential presence of volatiles or gases from lunar soil in Mons Mouton, a lunar plateau in the Moon’s South Pole. In addition, a passive Laser Retroreflector Array (LRA) on the top deck of the lander will bounce laser light back at any orbiting or incoming spacecraft to give future spacecraft a permanent reference point on the lunar surface. Other technology instruments on this delivery will demonstrate a robust surface communications system and deploy a propulsive drone that can hop across the lunar surface.

Launching as a rideshare with the IM-2 delivery, NASA’s Lunar Trailblazer spacecraft also will begin its journey to lunar orbit, where it will map the distribution of the different forms of water on the Moon.

The deadline has passed for media accreditation for in-person coverage of this launch. The agency’s media accreditation policy is available online. More information about media accreditation is available by emailing: ksc-media-accreditat@mail.nasa.gov.

Full coverage of this mission is as follows (all times Eastern):

Tuesday, Feb. 25

11 a.m. – Lunar science and technology media teleconference with the following participants:

• Joel Kearns, deputy associate administrator for exploration, Science Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters
• Niki Werkheiser, director, technology maturation, Space Technology Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters
• Jackie Quinn, Polar Resources Ice Mining Experiment 1 (PRIME-1) project manager, NASA Kennedy
• Daniel Cremons, LRA deputy principal investigator, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
• Bethany Ehlmann, Lunar Trailblazer principal investigator, Caltech
• Trent Martin, senior vice president, space systems, Intuitive Machines
• Thierry Klein, president, Bell Labs Solution Research, Nokia

Audio of the teleconference will stream live on the agency’s website:

https://www.nasa.gov/live/

Media may ask questions via phone only. For the dial-in number and passcode, please contact the Kennedy newsroom no later than 10 a.m. EST Tuesday, Feb. 25, at: ksc-newsroom@mail.nasa.gov.

Wednesday, Feb. 26

3 p.m. – Lunar delivery readiness media teleconference with the following participants:

• Nicky Fox, associate administrator, Science Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters
• Clayton Turner, associate administrator, Space Technology Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters
• Trent Martin, senior vice president, space systems, Intuitive Machines
• William Gerstenmaier, vice president, build and flight reliability, SpaceX
• Melody Lovin, launch weather officer, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s 45th Weather Squadron

Audio of the teleconference will stream live on the agency’s website:

https://www.nasa.gov/live/

Media may ask questions via phone only. For the dial-in number and passcode, please contact the Kennedy newsroom no later than 2 a.m. EST Wednesday, Feb. 26, at: ksc-newsroom@mail.nasa.gov.

Launch coverage will begin on NASA+ approximately 45 minutes before liftoff. A specific time will be shared the week of Feb. 24.

NASA Launch Coverage
Audio only of the media teleconferences and launch coverage will be carried on the NASA “V” circuits, which may be accessed by dialing 321-867-1220, -1240, or -7135. On launch day, the full mission broadcast can be heard on -1220 and -1240, while the countdown net only can be heard on -7135 beginning approximately one hour before the mission broadcast begins.

On launch day, a “tech feed” of the launch without NASA TV commentary will be carried on the NASA TV media channel.

NASA Website Launch Coverage
Launch day coverage of the mission will be available on the NASA website. Coverage will include live streaming and blog updates beginning Feb. 26, as the countdown milestones occur. On-demand streaming video and photos of the launch will be available shortly after liftoff. For questions about countdown coverage, contact the Kennedy newsroom at 321-867-2468.

NASA Virtual Guests for Launch
Members of the public can register to attend this launch virtually. Registrants will receive mission updates and activities by email, including curated mission resources, schedule updates, and a virtual guest passport stamp following a successful launch. Print your passport and get ready to add your stamp!

Watch, Engage on Social Media
Let people know you’re following the mission on X, Facebook, and Instagram by using the hashtag #Artemis. You can also stay connected by following and tagging these accounts:

X: @NASA, @NASAKennedy, @NASAArtemis, @NASAMoon

Facebook: NASA, NASAKennedy, NASAArtemis

Instagram: @NASA, @NASAKennedy, @NASAArtemis

Coverage en Español
Did you know NASA has a Spanish section called NASA en español? Check out NASA en español on X, Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube for additional mission coverage.

Para obtener información sobre cobertura en español en el Centro Espacial Kennedy o si desea solicitar entrevistas en español, comuníquese con Antonia Jaramillo o Messod Bendayan a: antonia.jaramillobotero@nasa.gov o messod.c.bendayan@nasa.gov.

For more information about the agency’s CLPS initiative, see:

https://www.nasa.gov/clps

-end-

Karen Fox / Jasmine Hopkins
Headquarters, Washington
301-286-6284 / 321-432-4624
karen.c.fox@nasa.gov / jasmine.s.hopkins@nasa.gov

Natalia Riusech / Nilufar Ramji
Johnson Space Center, Houston
281-483-5111
nataila.s.riusech@nasa.gov / nilufar.ramji@nasa.gov

Antonia Jaramillo
Kennedy Space Center, Florida
321-501-8425
antonia.jaramillobotero@nasa.gov

Engineers at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley, Bohdan Wesely, right, and Eli Hiss, left, complete a fit check of the two halves of a space capsule that will study the clouds of Venus for signs of life.

Led by Rocket Lab of Long Beach, California, and their partners at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Rocket Lab’s Venus mission will be the first private mission to the planet.

NASA’s role is to help the commercial space endeavor succeed by providing expertise in thermal protection of small spacecraft. Invented at Ames, NASA’s Heatshield for Extreme Entry Environment Technology (HEEET) – the brown, textured material covering the bottom of the capsule in this photo – is a woven heat shield designed to protect spacecraft from temperatures up to 4,500 degrees Fahrenheit. The probe will deploy from Rocket Lab’s Photon spacecraft bus, taking measurements as it descends through the planet’s atmosphere.

Teams at Ames work with private companies, like Rocket Lab, to turn NASA materials into solutions such as the heat shield tailor-made for this spacecraft destined for Venus, supporting growth of the new space economy. NASA’s Small Spacecraft Technology program, part of the agency’s Space Technology Mission Directorate, supported development of the heat shield for Rocket Lab’s Venus mission.

The latest edition of NASA’s Spinoff publication, which highlights the successful transfer of agency technology to the commercial sector, is now available online.

For nearly 25 years, NASA has supported crew working in low Earth orbit to learn about the space environment and perform research to advance deep space exploration. Astronauts aboard the International Space Station have learned a wealth of lessons and tried out a host of new technologies. This work leads to ongoing innovations benefiting people on Earth that are featured in NASA’s annual publication.  

“The work we do in space has resulted in navigational technologies, lifesaving medical advancements, and enhanced software systems that continue to benefit our lives on Earth,” said Clayton Turner, associate administrator, Space Technology Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “Technologies developed today don’t just make life on our home planet easier – they pave the way to a sustained presence on the Moon and future missions to Mars.” 

The Spinoff 2025 publication features more than 40 commercial infusions of NASA technologies including: 

• A platform enabling commercial industry to perform science on the space station, including the growth of higher-quality human heart tissue, knee cartilage, and pharmaceutical crystals that can be grown on Earth to develop new medical treatments.  
• An electrostatic sprayer technology to water plants without the help of gravity and now used in sanitation, agriculture, and food safety.  
• “Antigravity” treadmills helping people with a variety of conditions run or walk for exercise, stemming from efforts to improve astronauts’ fitness in the weightlessness of space.  
• Nutritional supplements originally intended to keep astronauts fit and mitigate the health hazards of a long stay in space.  

As NASA continues advancing technology and research in low Earth orbit to establish a sustained presence at the Moon, upcoming lunar missions are already spinning off technologies on Earth. For example, Spinoff 2025 features a company that invented technology for 3D printing buildings on the Moon that is now using it to print large structures on Earth. Another group of researchers studying how to grow lunar buildings from fungus is now selling specially grown mushrooms and plans to build homes on Earth using the same concept.  

Spinoffs produce innovative technologies with commercial applications for the benefit of all. Other highlights of Spinoff 2025 include quality control on assembly lines inspired by artificial intelligence developed to help rovers navigate Mars, innovations in origami based on math for lasers and optical computing, and companies that will help lead the way to hydrogen-based energy building on NASA’s foundation of using liquid hydrogen for rocket fuel.  

“I’ve learned it’s almost impossible to predict where space technology will find an application in the commercial market,” said Dan Lockney, Technology Transfer program executive at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “One thing I can say for sure, though, is NASA’s technology will continue to spin off, because it’s our goal to advance our missions and bolster the American economy.”  

This publication also features 20 technologies available for licensing with the potential for commercialization. Check out the “Spinoffs of Tomorrow” section to learn more.

Spinoff is part of NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate and its Technology Transfer program. Tech Transfer is charged with finding broad, innovative applications for NASA-developed technology through partnerships and licensing agreements, ensuring agency investments benefit the nation and the world.  

To read the latest issue of Spinoff, visit: 

https://spinoff.nasa.gov

-end-

Jasmine Hopkins
Headquarters, Washington
321-432-4624
jasmine.s.hopkins@nasa.gov

The old saying — “Practice makes perfect!” — applies to the Moon too. On Tuesday, NASA gave 17 technologies, instruments, and experiments the chance to practice being on the Moon… without actually going there. Instead, it was a flight test aboard a vehicle adapted to simulate lunar gravity for approximately two minutes.

The test began on February 4, 2025, with the 10:00 a.m. CST launch of Blue Origin’s New Shepard reusable suborbital rocket system in West Texas. With support from NASA’s Flight Opportunities program, the company, headquartered in Kent, Washington, enhanced the flight capabilities of its New Shepard capsule to replicate the Moon’s gravity — which is about one-sixth of Earth’s — during suborbital flight.

“Commercial companies are critical to helping NASA prepare for missions to the Moon and beyond,” said Danielle McCulloch, program executive of the agency’s Flight Opportunities program. “The more similar a test environment is to a mission’s operating environment, the better. So, we provided substantial support to this flight test to expand the available vehicle capabilities, helping ensure technologies are ready for lunar exploration.”

NASA’s Flight Opportunities program not only secured “seats” for the technologies aboard this flight — for 16 payloads inside the capsule plus one mounted externally — but also contributed to New Shepard’s upgrades to provide the environment needed to advance their readiness for the Moon and other space exploration missions.

“An extended period of simulated lunar gravity is an important test regime for NASA,” said Greg Peters, program manager for Flight Opportunities. “It’s crucial to reducing risk for innovations that might one day go to the lunar surface.”

One example is the LUCI (Lunar-g Combustion Investigation) payload, which seeks to understand material flammability on the Moon compared to Earth. This is an important component of astronaut safety in habitats on the Moon and could inform the design of potential combustion devices there. With support from the Moon to Mars Program Office within the Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate, researchers at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, together with Voyager Technologies, designed LUCI to measure flame propagation directly during the Blue Origin flight.

The rest of the NASA-supported payloads on this Blue Origin flight included seven from NASA’s Game Changing Development program that seek to mitigate the impact of lunar dust and to perform construction and excavation on the lunar surface. Three other NASA payloads tested instruments to detect subsurface water on the Moon as well as to study flow physics and phase changes in lunar gravity. Rounding out the manifest were payloads from Draper, Honeybee Robotics, Purdue University, and the University of California in Santa Barbara.

Flight Opportunities is part of the agency’s Space Technology Mission Directorate and is managed at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center.

By Nancy Pekar, NASA’s Flight Opportunities program

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Talk amongst yourselves, get on the same page, and work together to get the job done! This “pep talk” roughly describes how new NASA technology works within satellite swarms. This technology, called Distributed Spacecraft Autonomy (DSA), allows individual spacecraft to make independent decisions while collaborating with each other to achieve common goals – all without human input. 

NASA researchers have achieved multiple firsts in tests of such swarm technology as part of the agency’s DSA project. Managed at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley, the DSA project develops software tools critical for future autonomous, distributed, and intelligent swarms that will need to interact with each other to achieve complex mission objectives. 

“The Distributed Spacecraft Autonomy technology is very unique,” said Caleb Adams, DSA project manager at NASA Ames. “The software provides the satellite swarm with the science objective and the ‘smarts’ to get it done.”  

What Are Distributed Space Missions? 

Distributed space missions rely on interactions between multiple spacecraft to achieve mission goals. Such missions can deliver better data to researchers and ensure continuous availability of critical spacecraft systems.  

Typically, spacecraft in swarms are individually commanded and controlled by mission operators on the ground. As the number of spacecraft and the complexity of their tasks increase to meet new constellation mission designs, “hands-on” management of individual spacecraft becomes unfeasible.  

Distributing autonomy across a group of interacting spacecraft allows for all spacecraft in a swarm to make decisions and is resistant to individual spacecraft failures. 

The DSA team advanced swarm technology through two main efforts: the development of software for small spacecraft that was demonstrated in space during NASA’s Starling mission, which involved four CubeSat satellites operating as a swarm to test autonomous collaboration and operation with minimal human operation, and a scalability study of a simulated spacecraft swarm in a virtual lunar orbit. 

Experimenting With DSA in Low Earth Orbit

The team gave Starling a challenging job: a fast-paced study of Earth’s ionosphere – where Earth’s atmosphere meets space – to show the swarm’s ability to collaborate and optimize science observations. The swarm decided what science to do on their own with no pre-programmed science observations from ground operators.  

“We did not tell the spacecraft how to do their science,” said Adams. “The DSA team figured out what science Starling did only after the experiment was completed. That has never been done before and it’s very exciting!”  

The accomplishments of DSA onboard Starling include the first fully distributed autonomous operation of multiple spacecraft, the first use of space-to-space communications to autonomously share status information between multiple spacecraft, the first demonstration of fully distributed reactive operations onboard multiple spacecraft, the first use of a general-purpose automated reasoning system onboard a spacecraft, and the first use of fully distributed automated planning onboard multiple spacecraft. 

During the demonstration, which took place between August 2023 and May 2024, Starling’s swarm of spacecraft received GPS signals that pass through the ionosphere and reveal interesting – often fleeting – features for the swarm to focus on. Because the spacecraft constantly change position relative to each other, the GPS satellites, and the ionospheric environment, they needed to exchange information rapidly to stay on task.   

Each Starling satellite analyzed and acted on its best results individually. When new information reached each spacecraft, new observation and action plans were analyzed, continuously enabling the swarm to adapt quickly to changing situations. 

“Reaching the project goal of demonstrating the first fully autonomous distributed space mission was made possible by the DSA team’s development of distributed autonomy software that allowed the spacecraft to work together seamlessly,” Adams continued.

Scaling Up Swarms in Virtual Lunar Orbit  

The DSA ground-based scalability study was a simulation that placed virtual small spacecraft and rack-mounted small spacecraft flight computers in virtual lunar orbit. This simulation was designed to test the swarm’s ability to provide position, navigation, and timing services at the Moon. Similar to what the GPS system does on Earth, this technology could equip missions to the Moon with affordable navigation capabilities, and could one day help pinpoint the location of objects or astronauts on the lunar surface.   

The DSA lunar Position, Navigation, and Timing study demonstrated scalability of the swarm in a simulated environment. Over a two-year period, the team ran close to one hundred tests of more complex coordination between multiple spacecraft computers in both low- and high-altitude lunar orbit and showed that a swarm of up to 60 spacecraft is feasible.  

The team is further developing DSA’s capabilities to allow mission operators to interact with even larger swarms – hundreds of spacecraft – as a single entity. 

Distributed Spacecraft Autonomy’s accomplishments mark a significant milestone in advancing autonomous distributed space systems that will make new types of science and exploration possible. 

NASA Ames leads the Distributed Spacecraft Autonomy and Starling projects. NASA’s Game Changing Development program within the agency’s Space Technology Mission Directorate provides funding for the DSA experiment. NASA’s Small Spacecraft Technology program within the Space Technology Mission Directorate funds and manages the Starling mission and the DSA project. 

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STMD Small Spacecraft Technology

Starling

A trio of suitcase-size rovers and their base station have been carefully wrapped up and shipped off to join the lander that will deliver them to the Moon’s surface.

Three small NASA rovers that will explore the lunar surface as a team have been packed up and shipped from the agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, marking completion of the first leg of the robots’ journey to the Moon.

The rovers are part of a technology demonstration called CADRE (Cooperative Autonomous Distributed Robotic Exploration), which aims to show that a group of robots can collaborate to gather data without receiving direct commands from mission controllers on Earth. They’ll use their cameras and ground-penetrating radars to send back imagery of the lunar surface and subsurface while testing out the novel software that enables them to work together autonomously.

The CADRE rovers will launch to the Moon aboard IM-3, Intuitive Machines’ third lunar delivery, which has a mission window that extends into early 2026, as part of NASA’s CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative. Once installed on Intuitive Machines’ Nova-C lander, they’ll head to the Reiner Gamma region on the western edge of the Moon’s near side, where the solar-powered, suitcase-size rovers will spend the daylight hours of a lunar day (the equivalent of about 14 days on Earth) carrying out experiments. The success of CADRE could pave the way for potential future missions with teams of autonomous robots supporting astronauts and spreading out to take simultaneous, distributed scientific measurements.

Construction of the CADRE hardware — along with a battery of rigorous tests to prove readiness for the journey through space — was completed in February 2024.

To get prepared for shipment to Intuitive Machines’ Houston facility, each rover was attached to its deployer system, which will lower it via tether from the lander onto the dusty lunar surface. Engineers flipped each rover-deployer pair over and attached it to an aluminum plate for safe transit. The rovers were then sealed in protective metal-frame enclosures that were fitted snuggly into metal shipping containers and loaded onto a truck. The hardware arrived safely on Sunday, Feb. 9.

“Our small team worked incredibly hard constructing these robots and putting them to the test, and we have been eagerly waiting for the moment where we finally see them on their way,” said Coleman Richdale, the team’s assembly, test, and launch operations lead at JPL. “We are all genuinely thrilled to be taking this next step in our journey to the Moon, and we can’t wait to see the lunar surface through CADRE’s eyes.”

The rovers, the base station, and a camera system that will monitor CADRE experiments on the Moon will be integrated with the lander — as will several other NASA payloads — in preparation for the launch of the IM-3 mission.

More About CADRE

A division of Caltech in Pasadena, California, JPL manages CADRE for the Game Changing Development program within NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate. The technology demonstration was selected under the agency’s Lunar Surface Innovation Initiative, which was established to expedite the development of technologies for sustained presence on the lunar surface. NASA’s Science Mission Directorate manages the CLPS initiative. The agency’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland and its Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley, California, both supported the project. Motiv Space Systems designed and built key hardware elements at the company’s Pasadena facility. Clemson University in South Carolina contributed research in support of the project.

For more about CADRE, go to:

https://go.nasa.gov/cadre

News Media Contact

Melissa Pamer
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
626-314-4928
melissa.pamer@jpl.nasa.gov

2025-018

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NASA’s Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley invites media to learn more about Distributed Spacecraft Autonomy (DSA), a technology that allows individual spacecraft to make independent decisions while collaborating with each other to achieve common goals – without human input. The DSA team achieved multiple firsts during tests of such swarm technology as part of the agency’s project. 

DSA develops software tools critical for future autonomous, distributed, and intelligent spacecraft that will need to interact with each other to achieve complex mission objectives. Testing onboard the agency’s Starling mission resulted in accomplishments including the first fully distributed autonomous operation of multiple spacecraft, the first use of space-to-space communications to autonomously share status information between multiple spacecraft, and more. 

DSA’s accomplishments mark a significant milestone in advancing autonomous systems that will make new types of science and exploration possible. 

Caleb Adams, DSA project manager, is available for interview on Wednesday, Feb. 5 and Thursday, Feb. 6. To request an interview, media can contact the Ames Office of Communications by email at arc-dl-newsroom@nasa.gov or by phone at 650-604-4789.  

Learn more about NASA Ames’ world-class research and development in aeronautics, science, and exploration technology at: 

https://www.nasa.gov/ames

-end- 

Tiffany Blake
Ames Research Center, Silicon Valley 
650-604-4789 
tiffany.n.blake@nasa.gov  

To receive local NASA Ames news, email local-reporters-request@lists.arc.nasa.gov with “subscribe” in the subject line. To unsubscribe, email the same address with “unsubscribe” in the subject line.  

NASA will host a media teleconference at 1 p.m. EST Friday, Feb. 7, to discuss the agency’s science and technology flying aboard Intuitive Machines’ second flight to the Moon. The mission is part of NASA’s CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative and Artemis campaign to establish a long-term lunar presence. 

Audio of the call will stream on the agency’s website at:

https://www.nasa.gov/live

Briefing participants include:

• Nicky Fox, associate administrator, Science Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters
• Niki Werkheiser, director, technology maturation, Space Technology Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters
• Trent Martin, senior vice president, space systems, Intuitive Machines

To participate by telephone, media must RSVP no later than two hours before the briefing to: ksc-newsroom@mail.nasa.gov. NASA’s media accreditation policy is available online.

Intuitive Machines’ lunar lander, Athena, will launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The four-day launch window opens no earlier than Wednesday, Feb. 26.

Among the items on Intuitive Machines’ lander, the IM-2 mission will be one of the first on site, or in-situ, demonstrations of resource utilization on the Moon. A drill and mass spectrometer will measure the potential presence of volatiles or gases from lunar soil in Mons Mouton, a lunar plateau near the Moon’s South Pole. In addition, a passive Laser Retroreflector Array on the top deck of the lander will bounce laser light back at any orbiting or incoming spacecraft to give future spacecraft a permanent reference point on the lunar surface. Other technology instruments on this delivery will demonstrate a robust surface communications system and deploy a propulsive drone that can hop across the lunar surface.

Launching as a rideshare with the IM-2 delivery, NASA’s Lunar Trailblazer spacecraft also will begin its journey to lunar orbit, where it will map the distribution of the different forms of water on the Moon.

Under the CLPS model, NASA is investing in commercial delivery services to the Moon to enable industry growth and support long-term lunar exploration. As a primary customer for CLPS deliveries, NASA is one of many customers for these flights.

For updates, follow on:

https://blogs.nasa.gov/artemis

-end-

Alise Fisher / Jasmine Hopkins
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-2546
alise.m.fisher@nasa.gov / jasmine.s.hopkins@nasa.gov

Natalia Riusech / Nilufar Ramji
Johnson Space Center, Houston
281-483-5111
nataila.s.riusech@nasa.gov / nilufar.ramji@nasa.gov

Antonia Jaramillo
Kennedy Space Center, Florida
321-867-2468
antonia.jaramillobotero@nasa.gov

4 Min Read

NASA Space Tech’s Favorite Place to Travel in 2025: The Moon!

NASA Space Technology has big travel plans for 2025, starting with a trip to the near side of the Moon!

Among ten groundbreaking NASA science and technology demonstrations, two technologies are on a ride to survey lunar regolith – also known as “Moon dust” – to better understand surface interactions with incoming lander spacecraft and payloads conducting experiments on the surface. These dust demonstrations and the data they’re designed to collect will help support future lunar missions.  

Blue Ghost Mission 1 launched at 1:11 a.m. EST aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 39A at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The company is targeting a lunar landing on Sunday, March 2. 

NASA Space Technology on Blue Ghost Mission 1

NASA’s Electrodynamic Dust Shield (EDS) will lift, transport, and remove particles using electric fields to repel and prevent hazardous lunar dust accumulation on surfaces. The agency’s Stereo Camera for Lunar Plume-Surface Studies (SCALPSS) technology will use stereo imaging to capture the impact of rocket plumes on lunar regolith as the lander descends to the Moon’s surface, returning high-resolution images that will help in creating models to predict regolith erosion – an important task as bigger, heavier payloads are delivered to the Moon in close proximity to each other. 

The EDS and SCALPSS technologies will be delivered to the Moon on Firefly’s first Blue Ghost mission, named Ghost Riders in the Sky, as part of NASA’s CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative. Its landing target is a 300-mile-wide basin located on the Moon’s near side, called Mare Crisium – a large, dark, basaltic plain that filled an ancient asteroid impact. First-of-their-kind experiments will deploy after landing to gather important data in a broad spectrum of areas including geophysical characteristics, global navigation, radiation tolerant computing, and the behavior of lunar regolith.

Replicating the Moon’s harsh environment on Earth is a significant challenge because of extreme temperatures, low gravity, radiation, and dusty surface. The CLPS initiative provides unprecedented access to the lunar surface, allowing us to demonstrate technologies in the exact conditions they were designed for. Missions like Blue Ghost Mission 1 are a true game changer for NASA technology advancement and demonstration.”

Michael Johansen

Flight Demonstrations Lead for NASA’s Game Changing Development program

Understanding regolith

The Moon’s dusty environment was one of the greatest challenges astronauts faced during Apollo Moon missions, posing hazards to lunar surface systems, space suits, habitats, and instrumentation. What was learned from those early missions – and from thousands of experiments conducted on Earth and in space since – is that successful surface missions require the ability to eliminate dust from all kinds of systems. Lunar landings, for example, cause lunar dust to disperse in all directions and collect on everything that lands there with it. This is one of the reasons such technologies are important to understand. The SCALPSS technology will study the dispersion of lunar dust, while EDS will demonstrate a solution to mitigate it. 

Getting this new data on lunar regolith with be pivotal for our understanding of the lunar surface. We’ve long known that lunar dust is a huge challenge. The Lunar Surface Innovation Initiative has enabled us to initiate lunar dust mitigation efforts across the agency, working with industry and international partners. The lunar science, exploration, and technology communities are eager to have new quantitative data, and to prove laboratory experiments and develop technology solutions.”

Kristen John

Technical Integration Lead for NASA’s Lunar Surface Innovation Initiative (LSII)

Dust mitigation technology has come a long way, but we still have a lot to learn to develop surface systems and infrastructure for more complex missions. LSII is actively engaged in this effort, working with the lunar community across sectors to expand knowledge and design new approaches for future technologies. Working alongside the Lunar Surface Innovation Consortium, LSII has a unique opportunity to take a holistic look at dust’s role in the development of surface infrastructure with other key capability areas including in-situ resource utilization, surface power, and surviving the lunar night.  

Learning from the the Moon benefits Mars science and exploration

Capabilities for minimizing dust interaction are as important for future missions on Mars as it is for missions on the Moon. Like the Moon, Mars is also covered with regolith, also called Martian dust or Martian soil, but the properties are different than lunar regolith, both in shape and mineralogy. The challenges Mars rovers have encountered with Martian regolith have provided great insight into the challenges we will face during lunar surface missions. Learning is interwoven and beneficial to future missions whether hundreds of thousands of miles from Earth, on the Moon, or millions, on Mars.  

Learn more from a planetary scientist about how science factors into lunar dust mitigation technologies:

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Space Technology Mission Directorate

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Game Changing Development Projects

Game Changing Development projects aim to advance space technologies, focusing on advancing capabilities for going to and living in space.

Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS)

The goal of the CLPS project is to enable rapid, frequent, and affordable access to the lunar surface by helping…

NASA selected 15 visionary ideas for its NIAC (NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts) program which develops concepts to transform future missions for the benefit of all. Chosen from companies and institutions across the United States, the 2025 Phase I awardees represent a wide range of aerospace concepts.

The NIAC program nurtures innovation by funding early-stage technology concept studies for future consideration and potential commercialization. The combined award for the 2025 concepts is a maximum of $2.625M in grants to evaluate technologies that could enable future aerospace missions.

“Our next steps and giant leaps rely on innovation, and the concepts born from NIAC can radically change how we explore deep space, work in low Earth orbit, and protect our home planet” said Clayton Turner, associate administrator for NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate in Washington. “From developing small robots that could swim through the oceans of other worlds to growing space habitats from fungi, this program continues to change the possible.”

The newly selected concepts include feasibility studies to explore the Sun’s influence on our solar system, build sustainable lunar habitats from glass, explore Saturn’s icy moon, and more. All NIAC studies are in the early stages of conceptual development and are not considered official NASA missions.

Ryan Weed, Helicity Space LLC in Pasadena, California, proposes a constellation of spacecraft powered by the Helicity Drive, a compact and scalable fusion propulsion system, that could enable rapid, multi-directional exploration of the heliosphere and beyond, providing unprecedented insights on how the Sun interacts with our solar system and interstellar space. Demonstrating the feasibility of fusion propulsion could also benefit deep space exploration including crewed missions to Mars.

Martin Bermudez, Skyeports LLC in Sacramento, California, presents the concept of constructing a large-scale, lunar glass habitat in a low-gravity environment. Nicknamed LUNGS (Lunar Glass Structure), this approach involves melting lunar glass compounds to create a large spherical shell structure. This idea offers a promising solution for establishing self-sustaining, large-scale habitats on the lunar surface.

Justin Yim, University of Illinois in Urbana, proposes a jumping robot appropriately named LEAP (Legged Exploration Across the Plume), as a novel robotic sampling concept to explore Enceladus, a small, icy moon of Saturn that’s covered in geysers, or jets. The LEAP robots could enable collection of pristine, ocean-derived material directly from Enceladus’s jets and measurement of particle properties across multiple jets by traveling from one to another.

“All advancements begin as an idea. The NIAC program allows NASA to invest in unique ideas enabling innovation and supporting the nation’s aerospace economy,” said John Nelson, program executive for NASA’s Innovative Advanced Concepts in Washington.

The NIAC researchers, known as fellows, will investigate the fundamental premise of their concepts, identify potential challenges, and look for opportunities to bring these concepts to life.

In addition to the projects mentioned above, the following selectees received 2025 NIAC Phase I grants:

• Michael Hecht, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge: EVE (Exploring Venus with Electrolysis)
• Selim Shahriar, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois: SUPREME-QG: Space-borne Ultra-Precise Measurement of the Equivalence Principle Signature of Quantum Gravity
• Phillip Ansell, University of Illinois, Urbana: Hy2PASS (Hydrogen Hybrid Power for Aviation Sustainable Systems)
• Ryan Benson, ThinkOrbital Inc., Boulder, Colorado: Construction Assembly Destination
• Gyula Greschik, Tentguild Engineering Co, Boulder, Colorado: The Ribbon: Structure Free Sail for Solar Polar Observation
• Marco Quadrelli, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California: PULSAR: Planetary pULSe-tAkeR
• Ben Hockman, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California: TOBIAS: Tethered Observatory for Balloon-based Imaging and Atmospheric Sampling
• Kimberly Weaver, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland: Beholding Black Hole Power with the Accretion Explorer Interferometer
• John Mather NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland: Inflatable Starshade for Earthlike Exoplanets
• Robert Hinshaw, NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley: MitoMars: Targeted Mitochondria Replacement Therapy to Boost Deep Space Endurance
• Christine Gregg, NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley: Dynamically Stable Large Space Structures via Architected Metamaterials
• Saurabh Vilekar, Precision Combustion, North Haven, Connecticut: Thermo-Photo-Catalysis of Water for Crewed Mars Transit Spacecraft Oxygen Supply

NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate funds the NIAC program, as it is responsible for developing the agency’s new cross-cutting technologies and capabilities to achieve its current and future missions.

To learn more about NIAC, visit:

https://www.nasa.gov/niac

-end-

Jasmine Hopkins
Headquarters, Washington
321-432-4624
jasmine.s.hopkins@nasa.gov

With a look back at 2024, NASA is celebrating its many innovative and inspiring accomplishments this year including for the first time, landing new science and technology on the Moon with an American company, pushing the boundaries of exploration by launching a new mission to study Jupiter’s icy moon Europa; maintaining 24 years of continuous human exploration off the Earth aboard the International Space Station, and unveiling the first look at its supersonic quiet aircraft for the benefit of humanity.

The agency also shared the wonder of a total eclipse with millions of Americans, conducted the final flight of its Ingenuity helicopter on the Red Planet, demonstrated the first laser communications capability in deep space, tested the next generation solar sail in space, made new scientific discoveries with its James Webb Space Telescope, completed a year-long Mars simulation on Earth with crew, announced the newest class of Artemis Generation astronauts, and much more.

“In 2024, NASA made leap after giant leap to explore, discover, and inspire – all while bringing real, tangible, and substantial benefits to the American people and to all of humanity,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. “We deepened the commercial and international partnerships that will help NASA lead humanity back to the Moon and then to the red sands of Mars. We launched new missions to study our solar system and our universe in captivating new ways. We observed our changing Earth through our eyes in the sky – our ever-growing fleet of satellites and instruments – and shared that data with all of humanity. And we opened the doors to new possibilities in aviation, new breakthroughs on the International Space Station, and new wonders in space travel.” 

Through its Moon to Mars exploration approach, the agency continued moving forward with its Artemis campaign, including progress toward its first mission around the Moon with crew in more than 50 years and advancing plans to explore more of the Moon than ever before. So far in 2024, 15 countries signed the Artemis Accords, committing to the safe, transparent, and responsible exploration of space with the United States.

As part of efforts to monitor climate change, the agency launched multiple satellites to study our changing planet and opened its second Earth Information Center to provide data to a wider audience.

With the release of its latest Economic Impact Report, NASA underscored the agency’s $75.6 billion impact on the U.S. economy, value to society, and return on investment for taxpayers. 

“To invest in NASA is to invest in American workers, American innovation, the American economy, and American economic competitiveness. Through continued investments in our workforce and our infrastructure, NASA will continue to propel American leadership on Earth, in the skies, and in the stars,” said Nelson. 

Key 2024 agency highlights across its mission areas include:

Preparing for Moon, Mars

This year, NASA made strides toward the Artemis Generation of scientific discovery at the Moon while validating operations and systems to prepare for human missions to Mars. The agency advanced toward Artemis II, the first crewed flight under Artemis:

• NASA announced results of its Orion heat shield investigation and updated its timelines for Artemis II and III.
• Teams delivered the core stage and launch vehicle stage adapter of the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket from NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida and began stacking the rocket’s booster segments.
• Engineers carried out a series of tests of the mobile launcher and systems at NASA Kennedy’s Launch Pad 39B ahead of the test flight and added an emergency egress system to keep crew and other personnel at the launch pad safe in the case of an emergency.
• NASA performed key integrated testing of the Orion spacecraft that will send four astronauts around the Moon and bring them home, including testing inside an altitude chamber simulating the vacuum conditions of deep space.
• The crew and other teams performed key training activities to prepare for flight, including practicing recovery operations at sea, as well as launch countdown and mission simulations. 
• In February, the first Moon landing through the agency’s CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative brought NASA science to the lunar surface on Intuitive Machines’ Nova-C lander successfully capturing data that will help us better understand the Moon’s environment and improve landing precision and safety.
• In August, NASA announced that a new set of NASA science experiments and technology demonstrations will arrive at the lunar South Pole in 2027 following the agency’s latest CLPS initiative delivery award.

• To return valuable samples from Mars to Earth, NASA sought innovative designs and announced a new strategy review team to assess various design studies to reduce cost, risk, and complexity.
• NASA’s MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN) spacecraft celebrated 10 years of exploration of the Red Planet’s upper atmosphere.
• After three years, NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter ended its mission in January, with dozens more flights than planned.
• In September, the NASA Space Communications and Navigation team awarded a contract to Intuitive Machines to support the agency’s lunar relay systems as part of the Near Space Network, operated by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.

• NASA identified an updated set of nine potential landing regions near the lunar South Pole for its Artemis III mission.
• Capturing the current state of the Moon to Mars architecture, NASA released the second revision of its Architecture Definition Document.
• NASA formalized two international agreements for key Artemis elements, including with the United Arab Emirates for the Gateway airlock module, and with Japan to provide a pressurized rover for the lunar surface.
• Astronauts, scientists, and engineers took part in testing key technologies and evaluating hardware needed to work at the Moon, including simulating moonwalks in geologically Moon-like areas of Arizona, practiced integration between the crew and mission controllers, participated in human factors testing for Gateway, and evaluated the developmental hardware.
• NASA worked collaboratively with SpaceX and Blue Origin on their human lunar landers for Artemis missions, exercising an option under existing contracts to develop cargo variants of their human landers.
• In August, as part of its commitment to a robust, sustainable lunar exploration program for the benefit of all, NASA announced it issued a Request for Information to seek interest from American companies and institutions in conducting a mission using the agency’s VIPER (Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover) Moon rover.
• The agency selected three companies to advance capabilities for a lunar terrain vehicle that Artemis astronauts will use to travel around the lunar surface.
• NASA completed a critical design review on the second mobile launcher, which will launch the more powerful Block 1B version of the SLS rocket.
• Engineers at NASA Kennedy continued outfitting the Artemis III and IV Orion crew modules and received the European-built Orion service module for Artemis III; they also received several sections of the Artemis III and IV SLS core stages, and upgraded High Bay 2 in the Vehicle Assembly Building.
• NASA completed its second RS-25 certification test series at NASA’s Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, setting the stage for production of new engines to help power future Artemis missions to the Moon and beyond.
• The CHAPEA (Crew Health and Performance Exploration Analog) 1 crew completed a 378-day mission in a ground-based Mars habitat at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. 

Observing, Learning About Earth

NASA collects data about our home planet from space and on land, helping understand how our climate on Earth is changing. Some of the agency’s key accomplishments in Earth science this year include:

• After launching into space in February, NASA’s PACE (Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem) satellite mission is successfully transmitting first-of-their-kind measurements of ocean health, air quality, and the effects of a changing climate.
• Using the agency’s TEMPO (Tropospheric Emissions: Monitoring of Pollution) instrument, NASA made available new near-real time data providing air pollution observations at unprecedented resolutions – down to the scale of individual neighborhoods.
• Launched in May and June, NASA’s PREFIRE (Polar Radiant Energy in the Far-Infrared Experiment) CubeSats started collecting data on the amount of heat in the form of far-infrared radiation that the Arctic and Antarctic environments emit to space.
• NASA rolled out the Disaster Response Coordination System, a new resource that delivers up-to-date information on fires, earthquakes, landslides, floods, tornadoes, hurricanes, and other extreme events to emergency managers.
• The agency partnered with the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History to open the Earth Information Center exhibit.

Exploring Our Solar System, Universe

NASA’s Europa Clipper embarked Oct. 14 on its long voyage to Jupiter, where it will investigate Europa, a moon with an enormous subsurface ocean that may have conditions to support life. NASA collaborated with multiple partners on content and social media related to the launch, including engagements with the National Hockey League, U.S. Figure Skating, 7-Eleven, e.l.f., Girl Scouts, Crayola, Library of Congress, and others. NASA’s 2024 space exploration milestones also include: 

• NASA’s groundbreaking James Webb Space Telescope marked more than two years in space, transforming our view of the universe as designed, by studying the most distant galaxies ever observed, while raising exciting new questions about the atmospheres of planets outside our solar system.
• As part of an asteroid sample exchange, NASA officially transferred to JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) a portion of the asteroid Bennu sample collected by the agency’s OSIRIS-Rex (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, and Security-Regolith Explorer) mission in a ceremony on Aug. 22.
• After surviving multiple challenges this year, NASA’s Voyager mission continues to collect data on the furthest reaches of our Sun’s influences.

• NASA selected a new space telescope for development that will survey ultraviolet light across the entire sky, called UVEX (UltraViolet Explorer).
• This year, all remaining major components were delivered to NASA Goddard to begin the integration phase for the agency’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope.
• NASA developed, tested, and launched the patch kit that astronauts will use to repair the agency’s NICER (Neutron star Interior Composition Explorer) telescope on the International Space Station.
• The agency continued preparing the SPHEREx (Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer) mission to launch by April 2025.
• To manage the maturation of technologies necessary to develop the Habitable Worlds Observatory telescope, NASA established a project office at NASA Goddard.
• NASA and partners declared that the Sun reached solar maximum in 2024, a period of heightened solar activity when space weather becomes more frequent.
• The Solar and Heliospheric Observatory, a joint mission between ESA (European Space Agency) and NASA, discovered its 5,000th comet in March.
• NASA’s Sounding Rocket Program provided low-cost access to space for scientific research, technology development, and educational missions. NASA launched 14 sounding rocket missions in 2024. Scientists announced findings from a sounding rocket launched in 2022 that confirmed the existence of a long-sought global electric field at Earth.
• The agency established a new class of astrophysics missions, called Astrophysics Probe Explorers, designed to fill a gap between NASA’s flagship and smaller-scale missions.

Living, Conducting Research in Space

In 2024, a total of 25 people lived and worked aboard the International Space Station, helping to complete science for the benefit of humanity, open access to space to more people, and support exploration to the Moon in preparation for Mars. A total of 14 spacecraft visited the microgravity laboratory in 2024, including eight commercial resupply missions from Northrop Grumman and SpaceX, as well as international partner missions, delivering more than 40,000 pounds of science investigations, tools, and critical supplies to the space station. NASA also helped safely return the uncrewed Boeing Starliner spacecraft to Earth, concluding a three-month flight test to the International Space Station. In addition:

• In March, NASA welcomed its newest class of Artemis Generation astronauts in a graduation ceremony. The agency also sought new astronaut candidates, and more 8,000 people applied.
• NASA astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli, ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Andreas Mogensen, and JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Satoshi Furukawa returned to Earth at the conclusion of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-7 mission aboard the International Space Station. The three crew members, along with Roscosmos cosmonaut Konstantin Borisov, splashed down in March off the coast of Pensacola, Florida, completing a six-and-a-half-month mission contributing to hundreds of experiments and technology demonstrations.
• In June, NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams safely arrived at the space station aboard Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft following launch of their flight test. With Starliner’s arrival, it was the first time in station history three different spacecraft that carried crew to station were docked at the same time. Starliner returned uncrewed in September following a decision by NASA. Wilmore and Williams, now serving as part of the agency’s Crew-9 mission, will return to Earth in February 2025.
• NASA astronaut Don Pettit, accompanied by Roscosmos cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner, arrived at the orbital laboratory in September to begin a six-month mission.
• Completing a six-month research mission in September, NASA astronaut Tracy C. Dyson returned to Earth with Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub aboard the Soyuz MS-25 spacecraft.
• NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov launched on the agency’s SpaceX Crew-9 mission to the space station.
• Concluding a nearly eight-month science mission, NASA’s SpaceX Crew-8 mission safely returned to Earth, splashing down on Oct. 25, off the coast of Pensacola, Florida.
• NASA and Axiom Space successfully completed the third private astronaut mission to the space station in February, following an 18-day mission, where the crew conducted 30 experiments, public outreach, and commercial activities in microgravity.
• The agency announced SpaceX was selected to develop and deliver the U.S. Deorbit Vehicle, which will safely move the space station out of orbit and into a remote area of an ocean at the end of its operations.
• NASA and SpaceX monitored operations as the company’s Dragon spacecraft performed its first demonstration of reboost capabilities for the space station.
• NASA concluded the final mission of its Spacecraft Fire Safety Experiment, or Saffire, putting a blazing end to an eight-year series of investigations looking at  fire’s behavior in space.
• A robotic surgical tool aboard space station was successfully controlled remotely by surgeons on Earth. The Robotic Surgery Tech Demo tested the performance of a small robot to evaluate the effects of microgravity and time delays between space and ground.
• The first successful metal 3D print was conducted aboard the space station, depositing a small s-curve in liquified stainless steel for the Metal 3D Printer investigation to test additive manufacturing of small metal parts in microgravity for equipment maintenance on future long-duration missions.
• In 2024, 17 NASA Biological and Physical Science research payloads were delivered to the orbital laboratory, spanning quantum, plant biology, and physical sciences investigations.
• More than 825,000 photos of Earth were taken from the space station in 2024 so far, contributing to research tracking how our planet’s landscapes are changing over time. Expedition 71 produced more than 630,000 images, the most taken during a single mission. In total, more than 5.3 million photos have been taken from the space station, providing imagery for urban light studies, studies of lightning flashes, and 14 natural disaster events in 2024 alone.

Imagining Future Flight

NASA researchers worked to advance innovations that will transform U.S. aviation, furthering the Sustainable Flight National Partnership and other efforts to help the country reach net zero carbon emissions by 2050. NASA also unveiled its X-59 quiet supersonic aircraft, the centerpiece of its Quesst mission to make quiet overland supersonic flight a reality. NASA aeronautics initiatives also worked to bring air taxis, delivery drones, and other revolutionary technology closer to deployment to benefit the U.S. public and industry. Over the past year, the agency:

• Began testing the quiet supersonic X-59’s engine ahead of its first flight.
• Made further progress in research areas of Quesst mission, including ground recording station testing and advancement and structural tests on the aircraft.
• Publicly unveiled the X-59 in January, providing the first look at this unique aircraft.
• Tested a wind-tunnel model of the X-66, an experimental aircraft designed to reduce the carbon footprint.
• Began building the X-66 simulator that will allow pilots and engineers to run real-life scenarios in a safe environment.
• Funded new studies looking at the future of sustainable aircraft for the 2050 timeframe and beyond.
• Built a new simulator to study how passengers may experience air taxi rides. The results will help designers create new aircraft types with passenger comfort in mind.
• Developed a computer software tool called OVERFLOW to predict aircraft noise and aerodynamic performance. This tool is now being used by several air taxi manufacturers to test how propellers or wings perform.
• In collaboration with Sikorsky and DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency), flew two helicopters autonomously using NASA-designed collision avoidance software.
• Designed and flew a camera pod with sensors to help advance computer vision for autonomous aviation.
• Launched a new science, technology, engineering, and mathematics kit focused on Advanced Air Mobility so students can learn more about air taxis and drones.
• Continued to reduce traffic and save fuel at major U.S. airports as part of NASA’s to work to improve air travel and make it more sustainable.
• Worked with partners to demonstrate a first-of-its-kind air traffic management concept for aircraft to safely operate at higher altitudes.
• Advanced Hybrid-Electric technologies with GE Aerospace under the Hybrid Thermally Efficient Core project.
• Conducted new ground and flight tests for the Electrified Powertrain Flight Demonstration project, which works to create hybrid electric powertrains for regional and single-aisle aircraft, alongside GE Aerospace and magniX.
• Collaborated with the Federal Aviation Administration and police and fire departments to strategize on integrating public safety drones into the national airspace.
• Launched a new science, technology, engineering, and mathematics kit focused on Advanced Air Mobility so students can learn more about air taxis and drones.

Improving Life on Earth, in Space with Technology

NASA develops essential technologies to drive exploration and the space economy. In 2024, NASA leveraged partnerships to advance technologies and test new capabilities to help the agency develop a sustainable presence on the lunar surface and beyond, while benefiting life on our home planet and in low Earth orbit. The following are 2024 space technology advancements:

• Deployed NASA’s Advanced Composite Solar Sail System in space, marking a successful test of its composite boom technology.
• Performed record-breaking laser communications with NASA’s Deep Space Optical Communications technology demonstration by sending a laser signal from Earth to NASA’s Psyche spacecraft about 290 million miles away.
  • NASA’s Advanced Composite Solar Sail System and Deep Space Optical Communications were named among TIME’s Inventions of 2024, along with the agency’s Europa Clipper spacecraft.
• Supported 84 tests of technology payloads via 38 flights with six U.S. commercial flight providers through NASA’s Flight Opportunities Program.
• Enabled the first NASA-supported researcher to fly with their payload aboard a commercial suborbital rocket.
• Advanced critical capabilities for autonomous networks of small spacecraft with NASA’s Starling demonstration, the first satellite swarm to autonomously distribute information and operations data between spacecraft.
• Demonstrated space-age fuel gauge technology, known as a Radio Frequency Mass Gauge, on Intuitive Machines’ Nova-C lunar lander, to develop technology to accurately measure spacecraft fuel levels.
• Performed an in-space tank to tank transfer of cryogenic propellent (liquid oxygen) on the third flight test of SpaceX’s Starship.
• Licensed a new 3-D printed superalloy, dubbed GRX-810, to four American companies to make stronger, more durable airplane and spacecraft parts.
• Manufactured 3D-printed, liquid oxygen/hydrogen thrust chamber hardware as part of NASA’s Rapid Analysis and Manufacturing Propulsion Technology project, which earned the agency’s 2024 “Invention of The Year” award for its contributions to NASA and commercial industry’s deep space exploration goals.
• Pioneered quantum discovery using the Cold Atom Lab, including producing the first dual-species Bose-Einstein Condensates in space, the first dual-species atom interferometers in space, and demonstrating the first ultra-cool quantum sensor for the first time in space.
• Announced two new consortia to carry out ground-based research investigations and conduct activities for NASA’s Biological and Physical Sciences Space Biology Program, totaling $5 million.
• Awarded $4.25 million across the finales of three major NASA Centennial Challenges, including Break the Ice, Watts on the Moon, and Deep Space Food to support NASA’s Artemis missions and future journeys into deep space. 
• Launched a collaborative process to capture the aerospace community’s most pervasive technical challenges, resulting in a ranked list of 187 civil space shortfalls to help guide future technology development projects, investments, and technology roadmaps.

Growing Global Partnerships

Through the Artemis Accords, almost 50 nations have joined the United States, led by NASA with the U.S. State Department, in a voluntary commitment to engage in the safe, transparent, and responsible exploration of the Moon, Mars, and beyond. The Artemis Accords represent a robust and diverse group of nation states, representing all regions of the world, working together for the safe, transparent, and responsible exploration of the Moon, Mars and beyond with NASA. More countries are expected to sign the Artemis Accords in the weeks and months ahead.

• During a May workshop with Artemis Accords signatories in Montreal, Canada, NASA led a tabletop exercise for 24 countries centered on further defining and implementing key tenets, including considering views on non-interference, interoperability, and scientific data sharing among nations.
• A NASA delegation participated in the 75th International Astronautical Congress in Milan. During the congress, NASA co-chaired the Artemis Accords Principals’ Meeting, which brought together 42 nations furthering discussions on the safe and responsible use of space for the benefit of all.

Celebrating Total Solar Eclipse

During the total solar eclipse on April 8, NASA helped the nation enjoy the event safely and engaged millions of people with in-person events, live online coverage, and citizen science opportunities. NASA also funded scientists around North America to take advantage of this unique position of the Sun, Moon, and Earth to learn more about the Sun and its connection to our home planet. Highlights of the solar celebration include:

• The space station crew were among the millions viewing the solar eclipse.
• NASA collaborated with the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Google, NCAA Women’s Final Four, Peanuts Worldwide, Microsoft, Sésamo, LEGO, Barbie, Major League Baseball, Third Rock Radio, Discovery Education, and others on eclipse-inspired products and social posts to support awareness of the eclipse and the importance of safe viewing.
• More than 50 student teams participated in NASA’s Nationwide Eclipse Ballooning Project, with some becoming the first to measure atmospheric gravity waves caused by eclipses.

Building Low Earth Orbit Economy

In August, NASA announced the development of its low Earth orbit microgravity strategy by releasing 42 objectives for stakeholder feedback. The strategy helps to guide the next generation of human presence in low Earth orbit and advance microgravity science, technology, and exploration. NASA is refining the objectives with collected input and will finalize the strategy before the end of the year. Additional advancements include:

• NASA modified agreements for two funded commercial space station partners that are on track to develop low Earth orbit destinations for the agency and other customers.
• A NASA-funded commercial space station, Blue Origin’s Orbital Reef, completed multiple testing milestones for its critical life support system as part of the agency’s efforts for new destinations in low Earth orbit.
• A full-scale ultimate burst pressure test on Sierra Space’s LIFE (Large Integrated Flexible Environment) habitat structure was conducted, an element of a NASA-funded commercial space station.
• The agency’s industry partners, through the second Collaborations for Commercial Space Capabilities initiative and Small Business Innovation Research Ignite initiative, completed safety milestones, successful flight tests, and major technological advancements.
• As NASA opens access to space by working with private industry, the agency shared its medical expertise, human system integration knowledge, utilization requirements, and commercial space food insight to aid in developing safe, reliable, innovative, and cost-effective space stations.
• To address a rapidly changing space operating environment and ensure its preservation for generations to come, NASA released its integrated Space Sustainability Strategy in April.
• The agency tested the Sierra Space Dream Chaser spaceplane for the extreme environments of space at NASA’s Neil Armstrong Test Facility in Sandusky, Ohio.
• NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland streamed 4K video footage from an aircraft to the space station and back for the first time using optical, or laser, communications.

Inspiring Artemis Generation of STEM Students

NASA continues to offer a wide range of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) initiatives and activities, reaching and engaging the next generation of scientists, engineers, and explorers. The agency’s STEM engagements are enhanced through collaborations with partner organizations, the distribution of various grants, and additional strategic activities. Key 2024 STEM highlights include:

• Awarded nearly $45 million to 21 higher-education institutions to help build capacity for research, and announced the recipients of grants that will support scientific and technical research projects for more than 20 universities and organizations across the United States.
• Planted a “Moon Tree,” a seedling that traveled around the Moon and back aboard the agency’s Artemis I mission in 2022, at the U.S. Capitol in Washington. The event highlighted a partnership with the U.S. Forest Service that invited organizations across the country to host the seedlings.
• Partnered with Microsoft’s Minecraft to engage students in a game-based learning platform, where players can experience NASA’s discoveries with interactive modules on star formation, planets, and galaxy types, modeled using real James Webb Space Telescope images.
• Collaborate with the U.S. Department of Education to bring STEM to students during after-school hours under the 21st Century Community Learning Centers program, which aims to reach thousands of students in more than 60 sites across 10 states.
• Launched NASA Engages, a platform to connect and serve the public by providing agency experts to share their experiences working on agency missions and programs.
• With more than 55,000 applications for NASA internships across the spring, summer and fall sessions, a new recruitment record, NASA helped students and early-career professionals make real contributions to space and science missions.
• Expanded the agency’s program to help informal educational institutions like museums, science centers, libraries, and other community organizations bring STEM content to communities, resulting in 42 active awards across 26 states and Puerto Rico.
• Hosted the 30th Human Exploration Rover Challenge, one of NASA’s longest-standing student challenges, with participation from more than 600 students and 72 teams from around the world.

Reaching New, Future Explorers

NASA’s future-forward outreach to current and new audiences is key to providing accessibility to the agency’s scientific discoveries and to growing the future STEM workforce. NASA’s creative and inclusive 2024 strategies to reach the public include:

• NASA’s on-demand streaming service, NASA+, achieved four times the viewership of the agency’s traditional cable channel, marking a major milestone in its ongoing web modernization efforts. As part of the digital transformation, NASA said goodbye to NASA Television, its over-the-air broadcast, streamlining how it delivers the latest space, science, and technology news. NASA+ marked its first year of operation Sept. 23, and visitors have played 1,036,389 hours of programming.
• April 8, the day of the total solar eclipse, brought in 32 million views to NASA’s websites, more than 15 times additional views than the average this year. On average, NASA websites receive 33.4 million views every month.
• NASA social media accounts saw an increase of 4% in followers since 2023, from 391.2 million in 2023 to 406.8 million this year. On average, NASA accounts see close to 25 million engagements each month.
  • Notable live social media events in 2024 included the first-ever Reddit Ask Me Anything with the platform’s 23-million member “Explain Like I’m Five” community; the first X Spaces conversation from space; and NASA’s first Instagram Live of a launch, which contributed 410,000 of the 6.6 million views of the Boeing Starliner Crew Flight Test launch.
  • NASA Twitch launched custom emotes, issued channel points for the first time, and collaborated with an external Twitch creator, a how-to conversation with astrophotographers and NASA experts about photographing the Moon.
• NASA aired live broadcasts for 14 mission launches in 2024. The agency’s official broadcast of the 2024 total solar eclipse and its telescope feed are the top two most-watched livestreams this year on NASA’s YouTube.
  • The agency’s YouTube livestreams in 2024 surpassed 84.7 million total views.  
  • NASA broadcasts often were enhanced by the presence of well-known athletes, artists, and cultural figures. The solar eclipse broadcast alone featured musician Lance Bass, actor Scarlett Johannson, NFL quarterback Josh Dobbs, and Snoopy.
• The agency’s podcasts surpassed 9.7 million all-time plays on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
• The NASA app was installed more than 2.1 million times in 2024.  
• The number of subscribers to NASA’s flagship and Spanish newsletters total more than 5 million.
• NASA celebrated the 5th anniversary of the Hidden Figures Way street renaming. The program honored the legacy of Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson, and Christine M. Darden, and others who were featured in Margot Shetterly’s book – and the subsequent movie – Hidden Figures, and their commitment to science, justice, and humanity.
• The agency signed Space Act agreements with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the Hispanic Heritage Foundation to increase engagement and equity for underrepresented students pursuing STEM fields and reduce barriers to agency activities and opportunities.
• As part of its plans to reach new audiences, NASA continued to focus on developing Spanish-language content. This year, the agency:
  • Launched its second season of the Spanish-language podcast Universo curioso de la NASA.
  • More than doubled the number of yearly posts to its science-focused website in Spanish, Ciencia de la NASA, and grew the website’s traffic by five-fold.
  • Produced live broadcasts for the 2024 total solar eclipse and for the launch of the Europa Clipper mission, which reached a combined audience of more than 5 million viewers around the world.
  • Published a video about how NASA and ESA (European Space Agency) cooperate to train astronauts.
  • Released an astrobiology graphic novel and the agency’s economic impact yearly report in Spanish, among other outreach materials.
• Relaunched the NASA Art Program with two space-themed murals in New York’s Hudson Square neighborhood in Manhattan. The vision of the reimagined NASA Art Program is to inspire and engage the Artemis Generation with community murals and art projects for the benefit of humanity.
• A DC-8 Airborne Science Laboratory Workshop documented and celebrated the important scientific work conducted aboard NASA’s legendary DC-8 and captured lessons of the past for current and future operators. 
• The Deep Space Network beamed a Missy Elliott song to space on July 12. 
• NASA partnered with Crayola Education to develop content for Crayola’s annual Creativity Week held in January, which reached more than 6 million kids from 100 countries. 
• On the eve of the 55th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon landing, NASA Johnson named one of its central buildings the “Dorothy Vaughan Center in Honor of the Women of Apollo.” Actress Octavia Spencer narrated a video for the event. 
• NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley hosted social media creators in space, science, and engineering for a behind-the-scenes tour of the center’s world-class facilities.
• Engaging largely untapped NASA audiences of more than 155,000 in Illinois, Michigan, and Minnesota, NASA’s Glenn launched NASA in the Midwest, an integrated approach to bring awareness to the agency’s connections to the region to large-scale festivals and surrounding community institutions.
• Reaching 500,000 in-person attendees, NASA Stennis supported the agency’s return to the ESSENCE Festival of Culture in New Orleans.
• NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia developed a dance engagement program in partnership with the Eastern Shore Ballet Theatre, introducing new audiences to the agency while blending arts and science.
• NASA participated in more than 3,700 events planned with an estimated reach of more than 17 million worldwide. This was accomplished through in-person, hybrid, and virtual outreach activities and events.
• The agency’s Virtual Guest Program engaged 277,370 virtual guests across 13 events, with an average of 145 countries, regions, and territories represented per event.

There also were many notable engagements highlighting the intersection of space and sports in 2024, including the Stanley Cup visiting NASA Kennedy for photographs as part of the agency’s growing partnership with the National Hockey League. NASA Glenn also collaborated with The Ohio State University Marching Band for its halftime show during the university’s football game on Sept. 21. A video greeting from astronauts aboard the International Space Station introduced the show, which featured aerospace-themed music and numerous formations including the final formation the NASA Meatball.

For more about NASA’s missions, research, and discoveries, visit:

https://www.nasa.gov

-end-

Meira Bernstein / Cheryl Warner
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600
meira.b.bernstein@nasa.gov / cheryl.m.warner@nasa.gov