NASA’s RASSOR (Regolith Advanced Surface Systems Operations Robot) undergoes testing to extract simulated regolith, or the loose, fragmental material on the Moon’s surface, inside of the Granular Mechanics and Regolith Operations Lab at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on May 27. Ben Burdess, mechanical engineer at NASA Kennedy, observes RASSOR’s counterrotating drums digging […] The post NASA Kennedy Digs Latest Robot Test first appeared on VibeWire Magazine.

Researchers at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, have developed a technique to test long, flexible, composite booms for use in space in such a way that gravity helps, rather than hinders, the process. During a recent test campaign inside a 100-foot tower at a NASA Langley lab, researchers suspended a 94-foot triangular, rollable, […] The post NASA Langley Uses Height, Gravity to Test Long, Flexible Booms first appeared on VibeWire Magazine.

NASA named Stanford University of California winner of the Lunar Autonomy Challenge, a six-month competition for U.S. college and university student teams to virtually map and explore using a digital twin of NASA’s In-Situ Resource Utilization Pilot Excavator (IPEx).  The winning team successfully demonstrated the design and functionality of their autonomous agent, or software that performs […] The post Top Prize Awarded in Lunar Autonomy Challenge to Virtually Map Moon’s Surface first appeared on VibeWire Magazine.

As NASA works to establish a long-term presence on the Moon, researchers have reached a breakthrough by extracting oxygen at a commercial scale from simulated lunar soil at Swamp Works at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The achievement moves NASA one step closer to its goal of utilizing resources on the Moon and beyond […] The post NASA Kennedy Breathes Life into Moon Soil Testing first appeared on VibeWire Magazine.

A NASA-developed technology that recently proved its capabilities in the harsh environment of space will soon head back to the Moon to search for gases trapped under the lunar surface thanks to a new Cooperative Research and Development Agreement between NASA and commercial company Magna Petra Corp. The Mass Spectrometer Observing Lunar Operations (MSOLO) successfully […] The post NASA Moon Observing Instrument to Get Another Shot at Lunar Ops first appeared on VibeWire Magazine.

Nestled in a pod under an F/A-18 Hornet aircraft wing, flying above California, and traveling up to the speed of sound, NASA put a commercial sensor technology to the test. The flight tests demonstrated the sensor accuracy and navigation precision in challenging conditions, helping prepare the technology to land robots and astronauts on the Moon […] The post The Sky’s Not the Limit: Testing Precision Landing Tech for Future Space Missions first appeared on VibeWire Magazine.