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Technology and science demonstrations, supported by various NASA industry collaborations and agency developments, are set to launch to low Earth orbit aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket as part of the company’s Transporter-16 commercial rideshare mission. These demonstrations will test thermal protection systems, advance in-space communications, deepen our understanding of Earth’s atmosphere, and foster capabilities for NASA’s exploration, innovation, and research goals.

The 57-minute launch window opens at 6:20 a.m. EDT (3:20 a.m. PDT) on Monday, March 30, from Space Launch Complex 4 East at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. SpaceX will provide live coverage of the launch on its website and at @SpaceX on X, beginning about 15 minutes prior to liftoff. 

Making big impacts with small satellites

Several demonstrations aboard this mission leverage small spacecraft technology to maximize flexibility, delivering greater value to the agency and its partners at a lower cost. 

The AEPEX (Atmosphere Effects of Precipitation through Energetic X-rays) CubeSat will study how high-energy particles from Earth’s radiation belts transfer energy into the upper atmosphere through a process known as energetic particle precipitation. Currently, limited monitoring capabilities make it difficult to observe this phenomenon across large regions of Earth. The AEPEX CubeSat, supported by NASA’s CubeSat Launch Initiative and integrated on the mission via Exotrail, aims to address this by imaging the X-rays produced during precipitation events, enabling scientists to study and map the process. A better understanding of this activity could improve space weather forecasting, which has direct implications for radio communications, satellites, and other critical technologies. 

As part of the MagQuest challenge, CubeSats will demonstrate novel solutions for measuring Earth’s magnetic field to inform the World Magnetic Model, which supports national security, commercial aviation, and everyday mobile devices. Launched in 2019 through NASA’s Center of Excellence for Collaborative Innovation, the agency supported the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency in releasing the MagQuest challenge, which culminated in the development of three CubeSats built by three teams that advanced to the final phase of the competition. With testing done at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, and additional support from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), this competition exemplifies successful cross-cutting agency collaboration. 

Aboard the TechEdSat23 CubeSat, integrated via Maverick Space Systems, NASA will test three key technologies: a radiation sensor called Radiation Shielding Efficacy Testbed funded by NASA’s Small Spacecraft and Distributed Systems (SSDS) office, a miniaturized NOAA Data Collection System radio, and a device called an exo-brake for rapid deorbiting of spacecraft. These technologies will advance critical capabilities for radiation shielding, satellite communications, and space weather monitoring to better equip small spacecraft for operations in low Earth orbit and deep space while acting as a test bed for potential larger scale applications.  

The R5-S10 (Realizing Rapid, Reduced-cost high-Risk Research project Spacecraft 10) CubeSat, also supported by the SSDS office, will demonstrate technologies designed to expand the capabilities of small spacecraft in low Earth orbit. Deploying from the Vigoride orbital service vehicle operated by Momentus Space, the R5-S10 CubeSat will test proximity operations and formation flying techniques that allow spacecraft to safely operate at close distances, capabilities that could support future in-space inspection and servicing missions. The R5-S10 CubeSat will also carry a co-aligned event camera and star tracker proving a novel, high dynamic range, and high-rate tolerant star tracker, advancing technology to help spacecraft determine their orientation in space.  

Enabling Wi-Fi in space

After deployment from the Vigoride orbital service vehicle, the R5-S10 CubeSat will transfer data from its various demonstrations via Wi-Fi to an in-space router developed by the Solstar Space Company. In partnership with Momentus, Solstar’s in-space Wi-Fi router enables the R5-S10 CubeSat data to be downlinked through the Vigoride orbital service vehicle and eventually transferred to NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. Solstar advanced its Wi-Fi technology for in-space use through suborbital testing with NASA’s Flight Opportunities program which is managed at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California.

Powering in-space logistics

Also hosted aboard the Vigoride orbital service vehicle is a power processing system from CisLunar Industries. The company’s Electric Power Intelligent Conversion technology is designed to transform power ranging from 1 to 100 kilowatts with greater than 95% efficiency in smaller, lighter designs than the current state-of-the-art. This holds the potential to advance technology for in-space servicing, assembly, and manufacturing while serving government and commercial markets for dynamic space operations, including electric, dual-mode, and other forms of electric propulsion. The demo also is the first hosted orbital flight test for NASA’s Flight Opportunities program.

Advancing thermal protection technology

NASA also will launch technology on this flight to gather data about hypersonic atmospheric entry using sensors on a capsule from Varda Space Industries. As the latest in a series of flight tests, Varda’s W-6 capsule heat shield is equipped with a pair of instrumented tiles, made at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley, that will collect data about the heat and pressure experienced as the capsule returns to Earth. The sensors also will capture performance data about the heat shield, which is made of C-PICA (Conformal Phenolic Impregnated Carbon Ablator), a material originally developed at NASA Ames that provides stronger, more efficient, and less expensive thermal protection, maximizing the safety and affordability of capsules returning to Earth. 

By flying alongside commercial innovations, NASA continues leveraging cost-effective rideshare opportunities to accelerate technology development, innovations, and scientific discovery.

NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate manages the agency’s Small Spacecraft and Distributed Systems office, Flight Opportunities program, and the Center of Excellence for Collaborative Innovation. NASA’s CubeSat Launch Initiative is managed by the agency’s Launch Services program based at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

NASA has selected 10 participating scientists to help shape a science plan for astronauts to complete on the lunar surface under the Artemis program – including deploying scientific instruments, making critical observations of the landing site, and collecting Moon rocks.

“Congratulations to the scientists selected to participate in this important Artemis lunar surface science team,” said Joel Kearns, deputy associate administrator for exploration, Science Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters in Washington. “The selected scientists will bring a wealth of expertise to this team to ensure we are supporting crews on the Moon to achieve the missions’ science objectives. Exploring the lunar surface and executing the U.S.’s science objectives is a major step toward sustained operations at the Moon and preparation for human exploration of Mars.”

The selected scientists are:

• Kristen Bennett, Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff
• Aleksandra Gawronska, The Catholic University of America in Washington
• Timothy Glotch, State University of New York, Stony Brook
• Paul Hayne, University of Colorado, Boulder
• Erica Jawin, Smithsonian Institution in Washington
• Jeannette Luna, Tennessee Technological University in Cookeville
• Sabrina Martinez, NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston
• Jamie Molaro, Planetary Science Institute in Tucson, Arizona
• Hanna Sizemore, Planetary Science Institute
• Catherine Weitz, Planetary Science Institute

The participating scientists will join the first Artemis lunar surface science team, led by Noah Petro, project scientist, at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, and Padi Boyd, deputy project scientist, at NASA Headquarters. In this role, they will support the inaugural Artemis geology team, led by Brett Denevi of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland. The larger team also includes deployed instrument teams and the Artemis internal science team.

“Artemis is enabling the kind of scientific work that will reshape our understanding of the Moon and open the door to discoveries we’ve only imagined,” said Lakiesha Hawkins, acting deputy associate administrator, Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters. “The work these scientists will contribute before, during, and after the mission will help us make the most of every step astronauts take on the lunar surface and ensure we’re learning as much as possible from this new era of human exploration.”

During the mission, astronauts will land near the Moon’s South Pole, a landscape of extremes with dark craters that contain may contain ice and mountain peaks in near-constant illumination. The scientific research during the first crewed Artemis lunar landing mission will provide critical data to support further exploration while digging deeper into questions that have intrigued scientists since the Apollo era – such as the impact history of the Moon or the locations of shallow ice deposits. In addition, the processes that the science team develops and tests during the first Artemis landed lunar mission will provide the framework for science operations during increasingly difficult missions to explore more of the Moon’s surface and subsurface.

The selected participants will engage in pre-mission planning, science mission operations, and work preparing the post-mission reports to address these questions.  

Through Artemis, NASA will address high priority science questions in a Golden Age of exploration and discovery, focusing on those best accomplished by human explorers on and around the Moon and by using the unique attributes of the lunar environment. The Artemis missions will send astronauts to explore the Moon for scientific discovery, economic benefits, and build the foundation for the first crewed missions to Mars.

For more information on Artemis, visit:

https://www.nasa.gov/artemis

Alise Fisher / Molly Wasser
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600
alise.m.fisher@nasa.gov / molly.l.wasser@nasa.gov  

Listen to this audio excerpt from Michael Guzman, Artemis II main propulsion systems engineer:

A clue to what Mike Guzman, main propulsion systems engineer at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, loves most can be found in the signature of his work email: a complex string of equations for rocket thrust, specific impulse, and the physics behind cooling liquid oxygen with helium bubbles.

Born in New York to a family from the Dominican Republic, Guzman moved to Florida where he earned a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering at Florida International University and a master’s degree in space systems from the Florida Institute of Technology. His path to NASA Kennedy began after being handpicked for a summer internship in 2013, an opportunity that would ultimately change the course of his career.

During his internship, Guzman was inspired to build his own rocket. He purchased a textbook and began building a model rocket in his free time. The drive and passion he put into the project did not go unnoticed. Just three days after the model rocket launched, he was offered a job and has worked for America’s space agency ever since.

Guzman began his work with a model rocket, and now, as part of Exploration Ground Systems, is part of the team launching the rocket that will carry astronauts around the Moon for the first time in more than 50 years: the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket for Artemis II.

Guzman joined the propulsion team in 2019. Early in his role, he focused on hydrogen systems at Launch Pad 39B, including the large liquid hydrogen sphere at the pad and the piping that delivers propellant to the rocket. Today, he works on the main propulsion system inside the rocket itself, a role that will put him in the firing room for the Artemis II test flight, at the center of launch operations.

At the heart of Guzman’s work is the “brain book,” a comprehensive binder that contains every drawing, requirement, procedure, and launch commit criteria an engineer might need. It’s a roadmap for efficiency. By studying it in advance, Guzman and his colleagues know exactly where to find what they need and how to respond to unexpected issues.

The key to a successful launch relies on teamwork. On launch day, hundreds of engineers come together in the firing room to monitor every system on the spacecraft. Each console operator’s actions influence the others’, creating a constant interplay where observation, communication, and anticipation are key to mission success.

For Guzman, Artemis II represents the culmination of years of preparation, study, and collaboration.

“It’s not something that happens every day, and it’s not something that you get to be a part of every day,” Guzman said. “To see it finally happen, it’s going to be incredible.”

Synopsis | 03/23/26

https://sam.gov/workspace/contract/opp/e33cd0cc61064a6497a55fca8e9b30c6/view

NASA intends to release a BAA under Next Space Technologies for Exploration Partnerships (NextSTEP-3), Appendix E, for Project NEXUS, Ka-band Backward- Compatible Relay. As the aging Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System (TDRS) declines, NASA’s objective is to acquire an end-to-end Ka-band relay service, including space, ground, launch, integration, and operations elements, that is backward compatible with legacy TDRS users for a minimum of fifteen years. This capability is needed to support select on-orbit missions that cannot feasibly modify flight hardware or transition to non-compatible commercial services. To reduce growing continuity risk in the 2029- 2031 timeframe, industry is asked to develop and demonstrate this end-to-end capability. The BAA will be a phased competitive Research and Development (R&D) acquisition. NASA anticipates multiple initial Firm-Fixed-Price (FFP) awards with progressive downselects based on demonstrated performance, technical credibility, and commercial viability. NASA does not anticipate being the sole commercial customer and anticipates proposed solutions to be supported by a broader commercial business case beyond NASA. 

NASA seeks to accelerate maturation of commercially viable capabilities through competitive research demonstrations to support transition to future operational services, while preserving full and open competition for those services. All proposed satellite orbit solutions are acceptable notwithstanding that the proposed solutions will be expected to include all elements necessary for industry to develop, deliver and sustain the end-to-end relay service capability, including, but not limited to: Space segment, associated launch services, as applicable, ground and network infrastructure, and service operations and maintenance. Accordingly, NASA may use knowledge gained through this BAA, including demonstration results, technical data, and operational insight, to inform future acquisition strategies for operational services.

The Orion Crew Survival System suits that Commander Reid Wiseman, Pilot Victor Glover, and Mission Specialist Christina Koch from NASA, and Mission Specialist Jeremy Hansen from the CSA (Canadian Space Agency) will wear on the Artemis II test flight are seen in the suit-up room of the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building, Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

The Artemis II test flight will be NASA’s first mission with crew aboard the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket and Orion spacecraft. Through Artemis, NASA will send astronauts to explore the Moon for scientific discovery, economic benefits, and to build the foundation for the first crewed missions to Mars.

Image credit: NASA/Joel Kowsky

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