Flight Opportunities Program

One year ago today, the future of space communications arrived at Earth as a beam of light from a NASA spacecraft nearly 10 million miles away. That’s 40 times farther than our Moon. That’s like using a laser pointer to track a moving dime from a mile away. That’s pretty precise. That laser — transmitted […]

Posted November 14, 2024

Ames Research Center

Airborne Science

Earth Science Division

Flight Opportunities Program

NASA and Forest Service Use Balloon to Help Firefighters Communicate

NASA is participating in a collaborative effort to use high-altitude balloons to improve real-time communications among firefighters battling wildland fires. The rugged and often remote locations where wildland fires burn mean cell phone service is often limited, making communication between firefighters and command posts difficult.

Posted November 14, 2024

Space Technology Mission Directorate

Armstrong Flight Research Center

Biological & Physical Sciences

Flight Opportunities Program

Physical Sciences Program

Technology

Technology for Space Travel

First NASA-Supported Researcher to Fly on Suborbital Rocket

For the first time, a NASA-funded researcher will fly with their experiment on a commercial suborbital rocket.

Posted August 28, 2024

Prizes, Challenges, and Crowdsourcing Program

Flight Opportunities Program

Learning Resources

Prizes, Challenges & Crowdsourcing News

SmallSats Program

Space Technology Mission Directorate

NASA Opportunities Fuel Growth and Entrepreneurship for Bronco Space Club Students

NASA’s public competitions can catalyze big changes – not just for the agency but also for participants. Bronco Space, the CubeSat laboratory at California State Polytechnic University in Pomona, California, matured more than just space technology as a result of winning funds from NASA’s TechLeap Prize competition.

Posted June 28, 2024

Game Changing Development Program

Flight Opportunities Program

Space Technology Mission Directorate

Next Generation NASA Technologies Tested in Flight

Teams of NASA researchers put their next-generation technologies to the microgravity test in a series of parabolic flights that aim to advance innovations supporting the agency’s space exploration goals.

Posted June 20, 2024

Armstrong Flight Research Center

Flight Opportunities Program

Space Technology Mission Directorate

NASA Program Sends University Payloads to Space

NASA’s Flight Opportunities program sent two university payloads on suborbital flight tests onboard Virgin Galactic’s VSS Unity on June 8 when it launched from Spaceport America in Las Cruces, New Mexico.

Posted June 11, 2024

Biological & Physical Sciences

Flight Opportunities Program

Physical Sciences Program

Space Biology Program

Compact Robot Takes Flight to Support CERISS Initiative

NASA’s TechFlights 2023 Selections Advance Space Science in Collaboration with Industry A new robot will be taking flight soon to test its ability to support biological and physical science experiments in microgravity. As one of NASA’s 2023 TechFlights selections, this compact robot will have a chance to fly on a commercial suborbital flight to se

Posted March 14, 2024

General

Ames Research Center

Commercial Space

Commercial Space Programs

Flight Opportunities Program

Langley Research Center

NASA Centers & Facilities

NASA Directorates

Space Technology Mission Directorate

The Future of Commercial Space

NASA Helps Emerging Space Companies ‘Take the Heat’

Things are heating up in the atmosphere, and NASA is helping space start-ups stay cool. NASA has decades of expertise in creating technology that protects spacecraft from the intense heat generated when entering an atmosphere. As emerging companies develop innovative ways to do business in space, they know where to turn – and the […]

Posted March 7, 2024

Flight Opportunities Program

Small Spacecraft Technology Program

Space Technology Mission Directorate

NASA Awards Contracts for Flight, Payload Integration Services

NASA has selected 15 companies to provide flight and payload integration services to advance technologies and procedures for operating in space, including testing in high-altitude, reduced gravity, or other relevant environments. Examples of payloads include NASA science instruments or technology demonstrations.

Posted March 4, 2024

Armstrong Flight Research Center

Flight Opportunities Program

Game Changing Development Program

Space Technology Mission Directorate

NASA Selects Winners of Third TechRise Student Challenge

NASA is announcing 60 winning teams for its third TechRise Student Challenge, a nationwide contest to engage students in technology, science, and space exploration. The student teams will work together to turn their proposed science and technology experiments into reality ahead of NASA-sponsored suborbital flight tests this summer.

Posted January 24, 2024