Game Changing Development Program

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

Space Technology Mission Directorate

Ames Research Center

CubeSats

Game Changing Development Program

General

Small Satellite Missions

Small Spacecraft Technology Program

Tech Demo Missions

Swarming for Success: Starling Completes Primary Mission

After ten months in orbit, the Starling spacecraft swarm successfully demonstrated its primary mission’s key objectives, representing significant achievements in the capability of swarm configurations. Swarms of satellites may one day be used in deep space exploration.

Posted May 29, 2024

Ames Research Center

Ames Research Center's Science Directorate

Artemis

Game Changing Development Program

General

Missions

NASA Centers & Facilities

NASA Directorates

Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle

Space Technology Mission Directorate

What is 3D-MAT?

A thermal protection material for the Artemis Generation The 3-Dimensional Multifunctional Ablative Thermal Protection System (3D-MAT) is a thermal protection material developed as a critical component of Orion, NASA’s newest spacecraft built for human deep space missions.

Posted May 23, 2024

Technology

Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS)

Earth's Moon

Game Changing Development Program

Robotics

Space Technology Mission Directorate

NASA’s Network of Small Moon-Bound Rovers Is Ready to Roll

Construction and testing are complete on the CADRE rovers, which will map the lunar surface together as a tech demo to show the promise of multirobot missions. A trio of small rovers that will explore the Moon in sync with one another are rolling toward launch. Engineers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California […]

Posted March 7, 2024

Space Technology Mission Directorate

Game Changing Development Program

General

Lunar Surface Innovation Consortium

Lunar Surface Innovation Initiative

NASA Directorates

Student Teams to Help Fill the Inflatable Void with Latest Student Challenge

This year will be a “BIG” year for several college and university teams as they research, design, and demonstrate novel inflatable systems configured for future lunar operations through a NASA-sponsored engineering competition.

Posted February 29, 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

Marshall Space Flight Center

Game Changing Development Program

NASA’s 3D-printed Rotating Detonation Rocket Engine Test a Success

NASA has achieved a new benchmark in developing an innovative propulsion system called the Rotating Detonation Rocket Engine (RDRE). Engineers at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, successfully tested a novel, 3D-printed RDRE for 251 seconds (or longer than four minutes), producing more than 5,800 pounds of thrust.

Posted December 20, 2023

Flight Opportunities Program

Armstrong Flight Research Center

Game Changing Development Program

Space Technology Mission Directorate

NASA, Partners Continue to Advance Space Tech on Suborbital Flights

Living and working in space requires getting ready a bit closer to Earth. Through a suborbital flight test on Dec. 19, 2023 with industry provider Blue Origin, NASA’s Flight Opportunities program is helping 14 research payloads move one step toward future space missions and commercial applications.

Posted December 20, 2023

Space Technology Mission Directorate

For Colleges & Universities

Game Changing Development Program

General

Get Involved

Learning Resources

Lunar Surface Innovation Consortium

Lunar Surface Innovation Initiative

NASA Directorates

University of Utah takes top honors in BIG Idea Lunar Forge Challenge

Through Artemis, NASA plans to conduct long-duration human and robotic missions on the lunar surface in preparation for future crewed exploration of Mars. Expanding exploration capabilities requires a robust lunar infrastructure, including practical and cost-effective ways to construct a lunar base.

Posted November 21, 2023

General

Game Changing Development Program

Lunar Surface Innovation Consortium

Lunar Surface Innovation Initiative

Space Technology Mission Directorate

Technology

Technology for Living in Space

NASA Invites Stakeholders to STMD’s LIFT-1 Industry Forum

NASA is hosting a virtual industry forum on Nov. 13, 2023, to introduce the agency’s Lunar Infrastructure Foundational Technologies (LIFT-1) demonstration Request for Information (RFI).

Posted November 6, 2023