Technology Demonstration

A team at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland streamed 4K video footage from an aircraft to the International Space Station and back for the first time using optical, or laser, communications. The feat was part of a series of tests on new technology that could provide live video coverage of astronauts on the Moon […]

Posted July 24, 2024

Human Landing System Program

Artemis

General

Marshall Space Flight Center

Space Technology Mission Directorate

Technology Demonstration

Technology Demonstration Missions Program

NASA Artemis Mission Progresses with SpaceX Starship Test Flight

As part of NASA’s Artemis campaign to return humans to the Moon for the benefit of all, the agency is working with SpaceX to develop the company’s Starship human landing system (HLS), which will land astronauts near the Moon’s South Pole during the Artemis III and Artemis IV missions. On March 14, SpaceX launched the […]

Posted March 14, 2024

Marshall Space Flight Center

Space Technology Mission Directorate

Technology Demonstration

NASA Solar Sail Technology Passes Crucial Deployment Test

By Wayne Smith In his youth, NASA technologist Les Johnson was riveted by the 1974 novel “The Mote in God’s Eye,” by Jerry Pournelle and Larry Niven, in which an alien spacecraft propelled by solar sails visits humanity. Today, Johnson and a NASA team are preparing to test a similar technology. NASA continues to unfurl […]

Posted February 12, 2024

Deep Space Network

Space Communications & Navigation Program

Space Communications Technology

Space Operations Mission Directorate

Space Technology Mission Directorate

Technology Demonstration

Technology Demonstration Missions Program

NASA’s New Experimental Antenna Tracks Deep Space Laser

Capable of receiving both radio frequency and optical signals, the DSN’s hybrid antenna has tracked and decoded the downlink laser from DSOC, aboard NASA’s Psyche mission. An experimental antenna has received both radio frequency and near-infrared laser signals from NASA’s Psyche spacecraft as it travels through deep space.

Posted February 8, 2024

Glenn Research Center

Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS)

Cryogenic Fluid Management (CFM)

Technology Demonstration

NASA Tests New Spacecraft Propellant Gauge on Lunar Lander

Editor’s note, Feb. 6, 2024: This article has been updated to clarify that the Radio Frequency Mass Gauge estimates how much propellant is available in a tank. It does not make an exact measurement. It’s easy to measure fuel in tanks on Earth, where gravity pulls the liquid to the bottom. But in space, the game […]

Posted February 6, 2024

Glenn Research Center

Artemis

Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS)

Cryogenic Fluid Management (CFM)

Marshall Space Flight Center

Moons

Space Technology Mission Directorate

Tech Demo Missions

Technology Demonstration

Brr, It’s Cold in Here! NASA’s Cryo Efforts Beyond the Atmosphere

Establishing sustained operations at the Moon and Mars presents a multitude of opportunities and challenges NASA has yet to encounter. Many of these activities require new technologies and processes to ensure the agency is prepared for its ambitious Artemis missions and those beyond.

Posted January 11, 2024

Laser Communications Relay

General

Goddard Space Flight Center

Space Communications & Navigation Program

Technology Demonstration

NASA’s Space Station Laser Comm Terminal Achieves First Link

A NASA technology experiment on the International Space Station completed its first laser link with an in-orbit laser relay system on Dec. 5, 2023. Together, they complete NASA’s first two-way, end-to-end laser relay system.

Posted December 13, 2023

LOFTID (Low-Earth Orbit Flight Test of an Inflatable Decelerator)

Ames Research Center

Langley Research Center

Technology Demonstration

The Heat is On! NASA’s “Flawless” Heat Shield Demo Passes the Test

A little more than a year ago, a NASA flight test article came screaming back from space at more than 18,000 mph, reaching temperatures of nearly 2,700 degrees Fahrenheit before gently splashing down in the Pacific Ocean. At that moment, it became the largest blunt body — a type of reentry vehicle that creates a […]

Posted November 17, 2023

Psyche Mission

Asteroids

Deep Space Optical Communications (DSOC)

Missions

Psyche Asteroid

Technology Demonstration

Technology Demonstration Missions Program

The Solar System

NASA’s Psyche Spacecraft, Optical Comms Demo En Route to Asteroid

NASA’s Psyche spacecraft is on its voyage to an asteroid of the same name, a metal-rich world that could tell us more about the formation of rocky planets. Psyche successfully launched 10:19 a.m. EDT Friday aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from Launch Pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Integrated onto the […]

Posted October 13, 2023

Armstrong Flight Research Center

Aeronautics

Aeronautics Research

Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate

Air Traffic Solutions

Airspace Operations and Safety Program

Ames Research Center

Drones & You

Flight Innovation

Langley Research Center

Technology Demonstration

NASA Studies Human Pilots to Advance Autonomous Air Taxis

Air taxis may become an important part of the U.S. transportation ecosystem, quickly carrying people relatively short distances – and eventually some may fly without a pilot aboard. NASA is helping prepare for that future with research to ensure that fully autonomous flight technology is safe.

Posted October 3, 2023