March 29, 2025

Artemis 2.0: A Model for Really Winning the New Moon Race (Source: Space News)
It’s easy to criticize from the sidelines and offer armchair advice to the companies in the arena. But what matters is: they’re making it happen. After decades of stagnation, we’re finally seeing forward momentum. But now that we’ve reached this point, the biggest risk isn’t technical — it’s political and psychological.

Some argue our focus should be on Mars. I get it. I know the guy leading that push is kind of smart — but dropping the moon for Mars is small thinking. We can do better. We can do both, simultaneously developing low Earth orbit (LEO), the moon and beyond. We don’t have to choose.

In stark contrast to the cost overruns and delays plaguing Artemis, CLPS is demonstrating something extraordinary: even so-called “failures” in this model cost pennies on the dollar compared to traditional government-run robotic missions. And rather than driving toward the same lunar dead-end as Artemis 1.0, each success in this new partnership helps open a wider path for U.S. economic development on the moon. (3/28)

MTN, Lynk Make Africa’s First Satellite-Connected Call with Smartphone (Source: Business Insider)
MTN Group's South African unit and Lynk Global successfully made Africa's first phone call via satellite. The breakthrough could help extend mobile coverage to underserved and rural areas. Satellite technology is emerging as a key solution to bridging coverage gaps for mobile operators and smartphone manufacturers. (3/28)

Trump Promised Scientific Breakthroughs. Researchers Say He’s Breaking Science (Source: Washington Post)
In his presidential campaign last year, Donald Trump vowed to supercharge U.S. scientific research efforts, pledging to “unleash the power of American innovation” to combat cancer, Alzheimer’s and other diseases. But Trump has instead unleashed cuts and chaos that are paralyzing ongoing research, prompting layoffs and threatening America’s perch as a global scientific leader, researchers and scientists warn. The brunt of the pain stems from changes at the National Institutes of Health.

The blame rests squarely on the Trump administration, which has disrupted a federal funding model for U.S. scientists that dates back to World War II, said Stuart Buck. Officials inside the federal government described their own painful reckonings, with several describing “heartbreaking” decisions as they were ordered to cancel research projects that their teams had already decided to fund.

Scientists have rejected the Trump administration’s suggestions that universities could turn to private foundations or dip into their endowments to fund research efforts. Officials at private research foundations have said that they have been deluged with requests and cannot replace the funding that the government has historically provided. “The amount of chaos that has been created, you can’t snap your fingers and make it all right in a day, a week or a month,” said one researcher. (3/28)

NASA’s Dust Shield Successfully Repels Lunar Regolith on Moon (Source: NASA)
NASA’s Electrodynamic Dust Shield (EDS) successfully demonstrated its ability to remove regolith, or lunar dust and dirt, from its various surfaces on the Moon during Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost Mission 1, which concluded on March 16. Lunar dust is extremely abrasive and electrostatic, which means it clings to anything that carries a charge. It can damage everything from spacesuits and hardware to human lungs, making lunar dust one of the most challenging features of living and working on the lunar surface.

The EDS technology uses electrodynamic forces to lift and remove the lunar dust from its surfaces. The “before” image highlights the glass and thermal radiator surfaces covered in a layer of regolith, while the “after” image reveals the results following EDS activation. Dust was removed from both surfaces, proving the technology’s effectiveness in mitigating dust accumulation. (3/27)

Preparing for a Career at the Forefront of the Aerospace Industry (Source: MIT News)
You’re an aerospace engineer on a tight timeline to develop a component for a rocket engine. No sweat, you think — you know the concepts by heart, and the model looks appropriate in CAD. But you inspect the 3D-printed part that you’ve outsourced for manufacturing, and something is wrong. The impeller blade angle is off, and the diameter is larger than the design intent. The vendor won’t get back to you. Suddenly you’re over budget. Something is leaking. Running the pump test rig, you’re not sure where that vibration is coming from.

Successfully navigating nightmares like this can make or break an engineer, but real-time problem-solving during assembly is something few undergraduates experience as part of their curriculum. Enter class 16.811 (Advanced Manufacturing for Aerospace Engineers), a new communication-intensive laboratory course that allows juniors and seniors to drive a full engineering cycle, gaining experience that mirrors the challenges they’ll face as practicing engineers. (3/28)

Supernova May Have Wiped Out Life on Earth Not Once, but Twice (Source: Indian Defense Review)
Researchers are investigating whether these massive stellar explosions may have quietly altered the planet’s evolutionary path, unleashing radiation that reshaped Earth’s atmosphere—and possibly wiped out entire ecosystems. Supernovas are the explosive deaths of massive stars. When they go off, they release intense bursts of cosmic radiation capable of penetrating deep into planetary atmospheres.

If one occurred close enough to Earth—within about 65 light-years—it could strip away the ozone layer, Earth’s shield against ultraviolet radiation. The idea that Earth has already been affected—twice—by exploding stars gives new weight to our planet’s vulnerability to deep space. It also reframes our place in the galaxy: not just shaped by what happens on Earth, but by what happens light-years away. (3/27)

NASA Puts Biggest Rocket Pieces Together for Artemis II Moon Mission (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
The slow race of getting NASA’s Space Launch System rocket pieced together for next year’s Artemis II moon mission jumped a big hurdle over the weekend. The 212-foot-tall core stage was placed Sunday alongside two solid rocket boosters at Kennedy Space Center’s Vehicle Assembly Building — meaning the rocket that provides the oomph for what will be the first crewed mission in the Artemis program is in place.

Together the core stage’s four RS-25 engines, converted from the Space Shuttle Program, and the two boosters provide 8.8 million pounds of thrust at liftoff. While SpaceX’s in-development Starship has since surpassed that liftoff thrust, SLS remains the most-powerful rocket to ever send a payload into orbit. That happened in 2022 on the Artemis I mission when an uncrewed Orion spacecraft traveled to the moon.

More pieces have to be stacked atop the core stage, including the launch vehicle stage adapter, interim cryogenic propulsion stage, Orion stage adapter, and then finally, the Orion spacecraft. NASA officials stated earlier this month that Orion will be shipped over to the VAB for stacking in late April or early May — with NASA’s goal to roll the completely stacked rocket to the launch pad by year-end. (3/25)