WASHINGTON (NASA PR) — In 2021, NASA completed its busiest year of development yet in low-Earth orbit, made history on Mars, continued to make progress on its Artemis plans for the Moon, tested new technologies for a supersonic aircraft, finalized launch preparations for the next-generation space telescope, and much more – all while safely operating during a pandemic and welcoming new leadership under the Biden-Harris Administration.

by Douglas Messier
Managing Editor

Israel and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) will collaborate on a mission to the moon, analyze data from an Israeli-French Earth observation satellite, and launch a joint education satellite under a landmark agreement signed last week to cooperate on a range of space projects, the Israel Space Agency (ISA) announced.

The two nations will collaborate on Genesis 2, an $100 million Israeli mission to launch an orbiter to the moon and deploy landers at two different locations on the lunar surface. The mission, which is to be half funded with foreign contributions, is scheduled to launch in 2024.

by Douglas Messier
Managing Editor

With warnings about an imminent climate crisis and decreasing competitiveness, an independent advisory group has recommended the European Space Agency (ESA) urgently transform the way it uses space by establishing accelerators in three key areas leveraging commercialization, user-driven approaches and science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education.

“While space has the potential to enable effective and resilient solutions to tackle major societal challenges, it remains underutilised,” the advisory panel wrote. “The ESA Director General should investigate options for increasing the societal and economic impact of space, prioritising user-driven solutions and leveraging commercialisation, through a new concept of action, Accelerators, building on ESA’s programmatic capacities and acquired excellence.”

HOUSTON (NASA PR) — While the International Space Station was traveling about 260 miles over the Western Australia, a SpaceX Dragon cargo spacecraft autonomously docked to the forward-facing port of the orbiting laboratory’s Harmony module at 10:30 a.m. EDT, Monday, Aug. 30. Flight Engineers Shane Kimbrough and Megan McArthur of NASA monitored operations.

Among the science experiments Dragon is delivering to the space station are:

Bidding for a seat on Blue Origin’s New Shepard suborbital vehicle with Jeff Bezos ended on Thursday with the top bid at $4.8 million. The auction, which began on May 5, will conclude on Saturday, June 12 with a live bidding session that will be streamed at www.blueorigin.com. The session will start at 1 p.m. EDT/17:00 UTC. The winner will join Bezos and his brother Mark on New Shepard’s first […]

NASA FACT SHEET
FY 2022 Budget Request
Office of STEM Engagement
($ Millions)

NASA makes investments in engaging students, educators, and educational institutions to: attract diverse groups of students to STEM through learning opportunities that spark interest and provide connections to NASA’s mission and work; create unique opportunities for a diverse set of students to contribute to NASA’s work; and build a diverse future STEM workforce. The Office of STEM Engagement (OSTEM) leads NASA’s STEM engagement function, providing strategic guidance and direction in partnership with the mission directorates.

In FY 2022, NASA will focus on increasing diversity, equity, and inclusion in STEM by bolstering internships and other direct student opportunities, enhancing Next Gen STEM’s K-12 portfolio of student learning opportunities, and expanding partnerships and networks to magnify their reach and impact. The STEM Engagement Program is comprised of four projects:

WASHINGTON (NASA PR) — Small businesses are vital to NASA’s mission, helping expand humanity’s presence in space and improve life on Earth. NASA has selected 365 U.S. small business proposals for initial funding from the agency’s Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) program, a total investment of more than $45 million.

“At NASA, we recognize that small businesses are facing unprecedented challenges due to the pandemic,” said Jim Reuter, associate administrator for the agency’s Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD). “This year, to get funds into the hands of small businesses sooner, we accelerated the release of the 2021 SBIR/STTR Phase I solicitation by two months. We hope the expedited funding helps provide a near-term boost for future success.”

WASHINGTON (NASA PR) — “The dark side of the Moon” is sometimes used to describe mysterious things. Though the far side of the Moon isn’t actually dark, there are some areas on the Moon that haven’t seen the Sun in billions of years. Those are the unexplored areas university students aimed to help NASA reach.

WASHINGTON (NASA PR) — In 2020, NASA made significant progress on America’s Moon to Mars exploration strategy, met mission objectives for the Artemis program, achieved significant scientific advancements to benefit humanity, and returned human spaceflight capabilities to the United States, all while agency teams acted quickly to assist the national COVID-19 response.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla., December 7, 2020 (CASIS PR) – SpaceX successfully launched and docked its 21st commercial resupply services (CRS) mission to the International Space Station (ISS) earlier this afternoon. This mission, which launched from Launch Pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, carried thousands of pounds of supplies and research to our nation’s orbiting laboratory.