NASA

NASA puts astronauts from the International Space Station on evacuation alert

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It could have been just another day of work aboard the International Space Station, but the situation has taken a delicate turn. NASA has put in evacuation alert to several astronauts after an air leak in the Russian part of the orbital laboratory worsened, prompting the agency to order them to take precautionary shelter in a docked spacecraft. The order came from NASA mission control at 9:04 a.m., East Coast time of the United States (3:04 p.m. Spanish peninsular time). Several crew members were instructed to enter the ship SpaceX Crew Dragon and put on their corresponding space suits in case the situation led to an emergency evacuation. There are currently seven crew members on the ISS, but the preventive measure does not affect all of them. Bethany Stevens, of the NASA communications team, explains that The order reaches Americans Jessica Meir, Jack Hathaway and Chris Williams, from NASA; to the French Sophie Adenot, from the European Space Agency, and to the Russian Andrey Fedyaev, from Roscosmos. The leak is located in a very specific area of ​​the Russian segment: the Zvezda service module transfer tunnel, known as PrK. According to Stevens, that part of the station has been showing cracks and leaks for some time, an issue that NASA has closely monitored and that Roscosmos has tried to contain until now with operational measures and partial repairs. In development. Images | POT In Xataka | Western scientists have been debating the origin of Kamo’oalewa for years. China went looking for him

the new NASA material that would allow resources to be manufactured directly there

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To the Moon, and to space in general, you have to travel light. Every extra kilogram represents a huge cost of fuel. Therefore, the ideal is to obtain as many resources as possible directly at the destination. moon dustknown as regolith, can be a good source of metals for construction and oxygen for fuel and life support. However, to obtain all these materials the rock would have to be melted. The result is something similar to lava, which corrodes much of what is in its path. The process cannot be carried out inside any container or oven; but, luckily, a team of NASA scientists has found the ideal material for encapsulate the molten rock. 6 months of testing. The discoverers of this new material They spent 6 months investigating candidate substances to obtain a material that resists the corrosion of molten lunar dust. After that time, they found something interesting. By mixing scandium oxide with moon dust and heating the mixture red hot, a new material was obtained. They compared it to a list of more than a million materials analyzed by X-rays and the composition did not match any of them. It was totally new and, as they saw later, its properties were ideal. Property analysis. Since they were dealing with a new substance, these scientists decided to analyze its chemical properties from scratch. Thus, you can see not only its advantages, but ways to optimize them even further. Once this analysis was completed, they proceeded to make a mixture of eight basic oxide components, including scandium, with lunar regolith. The reaction was started by subjecting the mixture to 1,593ºC. The initial mixture is a pink powder that changes to beige when the reaction is complete, so it is very intuitive. All advantages. The material obtained by heating the regolith and oxides is ideal for manufacturing the containers in which the extraction of metals and oxygen from the lunar rock is carried out. It has been proven to have great resistance to corrosion, but at the same time great thermal stability. Therefore, that type of lava would not cause damage. On the other hand, it is true that scandium is expensive, but not as expensive as platinum that is normally used for this type of purpose. It would be ideal in future lunar colonizations. Other applications. This type of materials can also have applications in aerospace engineering. For example, it can be used to make coatings for jet engines, as it is also a lighter, less dense and better insulating material than the coatings normally used. These engines reach very high temperatures, so it is important to coat them to prevent them from overheating or burning other parts of the aircraft. SpaceX, for example, has used shielding in each of the Starship engines in previous versions. In version 3 the external piping system has been optimized and a thermal protection system has been inserted into the motors themselves. Be that as it may, it is clear that these types of coatings are essential. Having a material with so many advantages would also be very useful in this area. Image | POT In Xataka | Elon Musk says it will take 1,000 Starships and 20 years to build the first sustainable city on Mars

NASA has looked at Torrevieja from space and has seen a huge mass of pink water essential to finding life on Mars

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From space everything looks different. In fact, distance allows us to distinguish strange shapes, such as the Great Dam of Zimbabwe or the eye of the saharabut also colors that go more unnoticed at ground level. Thus, on June 7, 2021, an Expedition 65 astronaut aboard the International Space Station pointed his camera toward the southeast of Spain and took a photograph that looks like a watercolor: Mediterranean blue, a muted green and an intense pink reminiscent of quartz. The color palette is finished off by the white reflection of the sun. The three colors correspond to bodies of water a few kilometers from each other, in Alicante: the Mediterranean, and the saline lagoons of La Mata and Torrevieja. What seems like an aesthetic coincidence is actually chemistry visible from orbit. Each tone reveals something: the degree of salinity, which microorganisms dominate the water, and in what fragile balance they coexist. The lagoons of La Mata and Torrevieja. The Torrevieja lagoon has been used as a salt mine since the 13th century and today are the largest salt producer in Europe, with an average of 650,000 tons per year, a figure that varies depending on solar radiation, wind and precipitation. It does not function as a natural lagoon, but as an industrial system where water moves according to production needs. The La Mata lagoon acts as a prior concentration chamber: receive sea ​​water through artificial channels and runoff from intermittent streams of the Sierra de San Miguel de Salinas. From there, the water is pumped to the Torrevieja salt mine, where brine from the Pinoso salt diapir through a 55 kilometer pipeline. The result is that the concentration of salt in the Torrevieja lagoon can overcome 260 grams of salt per liter, much more than the 38.5 g/liter Mediterranean that bathes its coast. Two adjacent lagoons but with completely different chemical worlds. Why do they have such different colors?. Each time water of different composition is pumped to produce salt, the chemistry of the system is altered, which determines What organisms can live and in what quantity. Two lagoons a kilometer apart, two different microbial communities and two opposite colors. The pink color of the Torrevieja lagoon is produced by microorganisms. More specifically, in conditions of high salinity and intense solar radiation, the microalgae Dunaliella salina accumulates β-carotene as protection against light. The halophilic archaea that share the lake reinforce that tone: they have red pigments distributed throughout their cell membrane, which makes them visually more decisive in the final color of the water. In La Mata, the lower concentration of salt favors a different microbiota where chlorophyll predominates over carotenoids: that explains the green color. Context. The salinity gradient between both lagoons goes beyond chemistry: it is what allows a different and exceptional biodiversity. The wetland houses up to 400 taxaten species of threatened birds and one of the most important Audouin’s gull breeding colonies in the Mediterranean. Without that difference in salinity, many of those ecological niches would disappear. The NASA image is also more than a photograph: it portrays the fragile balance between industry, microbiology and conservation that climate change is already testing as temperatures rise and salinity fluctuations alter the living conditions of Dunaliella salinaor what is the same, that that striking pink color seen from space could disappear. Why is it important. Dunaliella salina is the organism that supports the base of the food chain in hypersaline lakes around the world. Since 1966 it has been grown commercially to produce β-carotene, which has applications in pharmacology and cosmetics. But it is also an organism that NASA has on the radar because it constitutes a form of life in extreme conditions. It should be remembered that the data from the Perseverance rover indicates that there were hypersaline waters in the Jezero crater of Mars. Studying life in these types of lakes helps understand the potential in these old Martian lakes. What makes Torrevieja pink is the best laboratory we have to know what to look for on another planet. In Xataka | 60 years ago, NASA took a look at the Sahara from space and found a very strange “perfect eye” In Xataka | Europe has been watching Colombia for a decade from space and what it has seen is a tragedy: the death of a glacier Cover | POT

Without gas stations in space we will not reach Mars. NASA knows this and is finally doing something about it

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Much of a spacecraft’s fuel is consumed in maneuvers to leave Earth’s orbit. For this reason, as manned missions move further away from our planet, we must begin to think about use space gas stations. These are not fuel pumps floating in space, but satellites, or even ships, capable of transferring fuel to a ship that needs it to travel further. At the moment, this is one of the weak points of many missions, so it is important to start working on technologies that allow it. At NASA they are very aware of this problem, hence this year they are going to launch LOXSATa mission that will test 11 different technologies to guarantee the transfer of propellants. 9 months ahead. LOXSAT is a NASA mission in collaboration with the company Eta Space. The objective of this mission is to test different cryogenic fluid management technologies so that in the future propellant tanks can be created in space. The mission will remain in low Earth orbit for 9 months. Meanwhile, 11 technologies will be tested focused on achieving four objectives: reducing boiling, improving propellant transfer, maintaining stable pressure and measuring propellant levels. The big problem. Cryogenic propellants, such as liquid oxygen at extremely low temperatures, are very efficient, but they have a major disadvantage. And in microgravity conditions, when the transfer between ships is carried out, the temperature cannot be kept low enough, so the fuel boils and suddenly transforms into gas. This causes a huge increase in pressure, which can endanger the ships involved. It seems to be that precisely this problem is the one that is giving SpaceX the most headaches. Like Blue Origin, this company must demonstrate its ability to refuel in space to be part of the Artemis missions, but it is not being easy. This is the reason why with LOXSAT methods will be tested to maintain stable pressure and reduce boiling. Space gas stations. The objective of this mission is to perfect the technology so that in the future there can be fixed propellant tanks in space. In other words, they hope that as we colonize space terrain we have gas stations so as not to run out of fuel. China on the heels. Ideally, in the future, large ships could exchange propellant. No space agency has achieved anything like this. However, China has indeed achieved it with satellites, in their Shijian missions. Plus, they did it in a higher orbit, so they are ahead of NASA in the particular race that has been uniting them for so long. Of course, at the moment, China has not tested cryogenic propellants, but tried hydrazine replenishment. There is still room for improvement. Write down the date. The mission will depart aboard an Electron rocket from Rocket Lab. The launch will be in the summer, no earlier than July 17, from New Zealand. Images | POT In Xataka | Jeff Bezos’ space company has overtaken SpaceX in a key milestone to go to the Moon and Mars: zero evaporation

Actigraph, the Brazilian bracelet that traveled to the Moon to monitor the sleep of NASA astronauts and that you can also use

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Rodrigo Trevisan Okamoto, the Brazilian engineer and founding partner of the company Condor Instruments, knew that it was very important for the Artemis scientists to monitor the sleep of their astronauts. He also knew that NASA had acquired several activity bracelets marketed by his company years ago, whose objective is precisely to analyze users’ sleep patterns in an exhaustive way. Still, the news he received on April 1 was a shock and a surprise. Shortly after the Artemis mission took off successfully towards the Moon, received an email stating that some of its astronauts were wearing one of its bracelets. A bracelet to monitor your sleep. Nowadays there are many watches and bracelets that analyze users’ sleep. However, that of Condor Instrumentscalled Actigraph, has a key difference, since it is capable of detecting different wavelengths of light and establishing patterns with sleep. Not all colors of light influence our sleep the same way.. Blue light is the one that inhibits our melatonin levels the most and therefore prevents us from sleeping. On the other hand, in the absence of ideal darkness, warm light is a better option when we go to sleep. That’s what this bracelet that the Artemis II crew worked with throughout the mission does. More information. The bracelet has 10 sensors in total to detect light at different wavelengths. As for sleep and rest patterns, they are analyzed using sensors that detect movement in the arms. Stillness is interpreted as rest and movement as wakefulness. However, we will all agree that this alone is not a good parameter. We can be very still, but awake. However, it also measures other parameters, such as body temperature, which does tend to drop when we are asleep. Everything is analyzed together. Both in heaven and on Earth. The Actigraph is useful for any type of person. You don’t have to be an astronaut to use an activity bracelet. However, this particular one is especially useful for astronauts because their light-dark cycles are not the same as here on Earth. For example, a night on the Moon lasts around two weeks. On the International Space Station, however, there are several sunrises and sunsets in a single day. For this reason, it is especially interesting to confront sleep patterns with light patterns. A history with NASA. It is well known that space is not the best place to fall asleep. Not only because of the light issue. Also because it is a very stressful situation and because, in general, there is not much room for intimacy. In addition, it appears that microgravity also affects sleep, although the exact causes have not yet been determined. For all this, in 2023 NASA decided to buy several Actigraph. The Artemis missions were just beginning and they wanted to start looking for ways to analyze astronauts’ sleep for when the first manned voyage took place. They even met with Okamoto several times. However, at no time was it confirmed that his watches were going to be used. There was a possibility, but he only received confirmation immediately after takeoff. It must have been a high almost as high as the one the astronauts experienced. Okay, maybe I’ve gone too far with the comparison, but surely news like this will feel good to anyone. Image | NASA/Condor Instruments In Xataka | The far side of the Moon hid an icy secret. We finally know why it is so different from what we see

NASA has an appointment with Mars today (although its ship already has its eyes set elsewhere)

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The Psyche spaceship, launched by NASA in 2023 to study the asteroid with the same name, it will reach its destination in 2029. However, today it will make its first stop along the way. If we stop at gas stations and roadside bars to stretch our legs and have a coffee, Psyche will approach Mars at almost 20,000 kilometers per hour, to tune some of its instruments while taking photographs worthy of the best wallpaper. In fact, we can already see some of them. Too close for space. Psyche won’t stop at the gas station like we did, but she will make a great approach. At 3:28 PM EDT (9:28 p.m., Spanish peninsular time), will be located 4,500 kilometers from the red planet. That, in spatial terms, is very little. Gravity assist. At this stop along the way, Psyche will take the opportunity to take some photographs and adjust her instruments, but she will also use Mars as a springboard to reach her destination faster. When a ship approaches a moving planet, it is attracted by its gravitational field. It does not touch the planet, but that interaction changes its trajectory and helps it gain speed with less propellant expenditure. We can imagine it as a ball being thrown towards a moving vehicle. This changes its trajectory and also gives it speed on the return trip. Psyche uses solar-electric propulsion, with xenon gas as fuel. Thanks to that push, known as gravitational assist, you can save quite a bit of propellant. A whole entourage. The result of this interaction will be studied by the two NASA rovers that are currently on Mars, Curiosity and Perseveranceas well as by American and European orbiters that are carrying out their respective missions. Not only photographs will be taken. Possible changes to the Martian surface and atmosphere will also be detected. first photos. Psyche has already taken a very interesting photoin which the night side of Mars is seen as the spacecraft approaches it. The result is something similar to a half moon, although logically it has nothing to do with it. The real goal. Thanks to Martian gravitational assistance, Psyche will reach the asteroid with the same name in 2029. This is located in the asteroid beltbetween Mars and Jupiter. Shaped like a potato and 278 km long and 232 km wide, it is a metallic asteroid, one of the least abundant types in that location. That’s why it’s so interesting to explore. In fact, it is believed that it is actually the iron-nickel core of a planet in formation that could not complete the process because it was destroyed by cosmic collisions. For all this, Psyche (the ship and the asteroid) has a lot to teach us about the birth of a planet and, possibly, about the dawn of the solar system. As we often say, to know where we are going, it is also important to know where we come from. That is what makes this type of research so important. Image | POT In Xataka | NASA has sent its spacecraft to observe a dead robot on Mars. The reason: seeing how it accumulates dust

NASA prepares chips 100 times more powerful

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Human beings explore because they need to understand what lies beyond. We have done it by crossing oceans, climbing mountains and, for decades, sending machines to places where we cannot yet be. But a space mission has more to do than get there. For example, collecting data, interpreting it and sending it to Earth to do science. This is where the great challenge appears, because space requires computers capable of functioning for years in an environment that punishes electronics like few others. High Performance Spaceflight Computing. This is the name of the response that NASA is preparing. According to the agencythe project seeks to develop together with Microchip Technology a new space processor capable of offering up to 100 times more computing capacity than current space computers. We are not talking about a chip designed for a laptop or a mobile phone, but rather a system on a chip, or SoC, called to be integrated, once certified for space flight, in future ships, orbiters, rovers, manned habitats and deep space missions. SoC, a familiar term. This is the type of architecture that is common in our smartphones and tablets: small devices that concentrate essential elements of a computer in a single piece. The difference compared to an isolated processor is precisely there. An SoC is not limited to executing instructions, but can integrate CPUs, computing support units, advanced networks, memory, and input and output interfaces. On Earth we use it to gain efficiency and reduce size. In space, moreover, it has to survive. The challenge. As we say, space punishes electronics in a way that we rarely see down here. According to NASA, a processor intended for real missions must withstand electromagnetic radiation, extreme temperature fluctuations and high-energy particles capable of altering the operation of the systems. We are not just talking about losing performance, but about errors that can force a ship to enter “safe mode”, with non-essential operations turned off until mission teams resolve the incident. A key phase. Now comes the time to check if everything that is promised on paper holds up when taken to the physical field. JPL began testing in February and will maintain the campaign for several months, with radiation tests, thermal cycles, shocks and functional evaluations. The agency ensures that the processor is working as designed and adds a striking fact, although still within the framework of the tests: the first indications show that it operates with a performance 500 times higher than the radiation-hardened chips currently in use. More autonomy away from home. Space exploration has a limit that is not resolved with a larger antenna: distance. Between Earth and Mars, ua signal may take a while between 3 and 22 minutes to travel in one direction, depending on the position of both planets in their orbits. That means we can’t drive a rover like someone drives a remote-controlled car. We have seen it in the Martian landings, the famous “seven minutes of terror”, when a ship enters, descends and lands, executing a choreography by itself that from Earth we can only know when it has already happened. On-board computing. NASA proposes that this type of processor will allow future ships to use artificial intelligence to respond in real time to complex situations, analyze large volumes of data, store it and transmit it more quickly. Let’s remember the case of Perseverance which already combined orbital data of Mars, its panoramic camera and a Snapdragon 801 to compare what he saw with information obtained from space and refine his position on the Martian surface. If we want to continue exploring Mars and look further, we will need more and more systems capable of making decisions without always waiting for an order from Earth. Technology that returns. The history of space exploration is also the history of ideas that are born to solve very specific problems and then find a place on Earth. In this case, NASA points to possible adaptations for sectors such as aviation and automotive, in potential uses such as drones, electrical networks, medical equipment, communication services, artificial intelligence and data transmission. It does not mean that we will see this processor in a consumer product tomorrow, but it does mean that the effort to make it more powerful, efficient, scalable and resistant can go beyond a ship on its way to deep space. Images | POT In Xataka | The biggest problem with living on the Moon is its nights. NASA believes it has found the solution to avoid running out of electricity

The biggest problem with living on the Moon is its nights. NASA believes it has found the solution to avoid running out of electricity

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If we want to build bases on the Moon or on Mars, we must work on the development of technologies that make the lives of lunar colonists easier. For example, it is important to think about ways to obtain energy. In the case of Mars, there are already scientists working on methods to obtain electricity using carbon dioxide from your atmosphere. But the ideal would be to be able to use batteries. They would have to be rechargeable batteries, since there are no containers for batteries on the Moon (on Earth there are, throw them away where they belong). The problem is that lunar nights are very long, so solar energy cannot be used to obtain electricity to recharge them. Therefore, NASA scientists they are already working in rechargeable batteries that generate and store energy in a very original way. Only two ingredients. The battery in question, called a regenerative fuel cell, contains hydrogen and oxygen gases, which combine to give rise to water. In this reaction, heat and electricity are generated, which can be used to supply the devices necessary for astronauts’ daily lives. Once no more energy is needed, the water molecules break down, giving rise to hydrogen and oxygen, which are saved for when it is necessary to start again. Thus, the fuel is not wasted. It regenerates. Big as a human being. Let’s not think about small batteries like the ones we use at home. Not even in batteries like those in a car. This regenerative fuel cell is much larger. It is practically the height of a human being and the length of a sedan car. First tests. In 2025, the basic components were tested to verify that the previous design technology was viable. Right now NASA scientists are doing more advanced tests, with the aim of analyzing whether the fuel regenerates properly. In a test cell, the system can be operated remotely. Furthermore, once the test has started, it can continue autonomously, without intervention from the researchers. Learnings. Everything is expected to go well in the tests. But, in any case, there will be learnings that serve to perfect the device. After five years of development, the prototype has advanced a lot, but these types of experiments are what really help to perfect a technology of this caliber. Heading to the Moon. Once the tests are completed, the goal is to repeat them in an environment that simulates lunar conditions. Theoretically, the battery is designed to withstand the extreme temperatures of the Moon, even on its cold two-week Earth nights. If all goes well, the technology would be ready to be used. in the Artemis program. This is the objective with which this battery of 270 sensors and 1,000 components was designed. There will be time to think about Mars. At the moment, the closest target on the horizon is our satellite. We need energy to stay on its surface. Image | NASA/Magnific In Xataka | We have not yet colonized the Moon and we have already filled it with garbage: there are even abandoned golf balls

NASA has captured how an entire lake in Canada disappeared in just 15 days. Science has a disturbing explanation

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Seen and unseen. In the spring of 2025 something happened in central Quebec: an entire lake disappeared in a matter of days. Lac Rouge, a 1.4 square kilometer body of water located in the Lac-Walker region of Sept-Rivières, a popular hunting and fishing area in the Waswanipi Cree First Nationdisappeared. It did not dry out little by little as a result of a prolonged lack of rain as for example happens to Moroccoit was something abrupt and silent. What you see on these lines is the before and after photographed by the Landsat 9 satellite NASA from space with a margin of one year (June 2024 on the left and June 2025 on the right). That a lake disappears is scientifically interesting, as is the list of suspects: the shores have soft geology, the terrain has been suffering from forest fires for years, there is a lot of logging and also melting ice. Where is the trick. What happened to the lake. The first sign was a destroyed road, as reported by local people who used it to move around the area: the access road was completely destroyed by water, as NASA explains. CBC echoes the subsequent investigationwhich revealed that the land surrounding the lake had collapsed and that Lac Rouge had been emptied. The lake had water on April 29, 2025 but was completely dry on May 14. I mean, It dried in just 15 days. At that time, the local administration released a statement alerting of the event. But the water didn’t disappear, it just moved around. Instead of following its usual outlet channel, it opened a new channel to the northeast, crossing a 10-kilometer chain of lakes and wetlands until it reached Lac Doda. If you look at the after photo, you will see that it left a mark in the form of light brown sediments. The explanation. Science explains this mechanism called outburst flooda flash overflow flood: a portion of the lake shore suddenly gave way and water quickly escaped through that gap instead of overflowing into existing river channels. He NASA Earth Observatory confirmed that it was the east bank that gave way, originating that new route. This phenomenon is relatively common in lakes of glacial origin with unstable ice barriers, but rare in a lake like Lac Rouge, whose barrier is made of soft sedimentary soil. The underlying physics is common in basin hydrology: a coniferous forest absorbs between 20% and 50% of the rain it receives, according to this meta-study published in Nature. If there is no vegetation cover, the water reaches the soil directly, saturates it and weakens those banks. Hydrologist Younes Alila, from the University of British Columbia, summarizes it like this: Any ground disturbance (e.g. fire, logging or forestry) raises the water table and keeps it high for longer, increasing the risk of extreme flooding. There is no Lake Ninio left, only Masibón. POT Why is it important. Because Lac Rouge is not an isolated case: it is a warning. Climate change is making fires more frequent and melting more irregular, as the IPCC climate change expert group explains in his AR6while intensive logging continues to weaken soils. The combination of both factors in basins with soft geology favors the appearance of these poorly studied and difficult to anticipate events, as warned by a study on the boreal forest and climate change published in Springer Nature. In this case, the direct blow is suffered by the indigenous communities. More than 600 communities depend on the Canadian boreal forest for their livelihood, according to the Boreal Conservation Foundationand events like this disappearance drastically alter the territory’s ecosystems and activities, such as hunting and fishing, from one day to the next. The list of suspects. Considering these risk factors, Lac Rouge had all the cards: The fire. In 2019 and 2023, areas near the lake burned. The 2023 fire was Quebec’s worst in more than a century: it burned 4.5 million hectares, according to this study published in the Canadian Journal of Forest Research. The Guardian echoes from the Quebec Cree forestry department, which concludes that those fires eliminated much of the mature vegetation cover in the Lac Rouge basin, including that bank that gave way. Furthermore, the fires can reduce infiltration and increase runoff. Intensive logging. After the fires, logging companies obtained wood by scarifying the land to facilitate replanting, which worsened even more the hydrological degradation of the basin. The thaw of 2025. The winter of 2025 snowed more than normal and the thaw was rapid, generating a volume of water that those weak banks could not contain. Natural or provoked? The Quebec government classified it as a natural event and did not investigate further. Their argument: Their own forestry studies say that if less than half of a watershed’s forest is damaged, the risk to rivers and lakes is minimal, as Sigma Earth collects. International experts and the Cree community do not accept it: these studies do not take into account that in Lac Rouge the damage accumulated in layers or that climate change makes all this happen with more frequency and intensity, according to the IPCC in its Sixth Assessment Report. It was probably a combination of everything: soft soil and weak shoreline set the stage, rapid snowmelt was the spark, and decades of logging and fires made the system much more fragile than it otherwise would have been. As points out Sigma EarthLac Rouge can be a warning of what is to come if the way this territory is managed is not changed. In Xataka | Chronicle of an announced collapse: the NASA map that shows how quickly Mexico City is sinking In Xataka | The Earth’s seabed has always been a mystery: an amazing 3D map reveals it in unprecedented detail Cover | POT

its lunar lander just passed a NASA fire test

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The race between SpaceX and Blue Origin to land on the Moon continue and Jeff Bezos’ company has just taken a big step forward. This week, testing of its MK1 lander in NASA’s vacuum chamber was successfully completed. This demonstrates that it is ready to take NASA payloads to our satellite this year and, above all, that it is on the right track to also take the Artemis astronauts to the lunar surface. Everything under control. MK1 is an uncrewed cargo lander. NASA has chosen it to take two payloads to the Moon at the end of this year. On the one hand, the stereoscopic cameras for the surface study of the lunar plumes at the south pole. On the other hand, the retroreflective laser array, which will help find the location of the instruments placed in orbit. To verify that the landing system is ready, it has been tested in NASA’s vacuum chamber A, where the conditions it will be exposed to during its space trip are emulated. The results have been positive, which is why they represent a great advance for Blue Origin and a reason for SpaceX’s fear. A camera to imitate space. NASA Camera A It is a vacuum chamber, 27 meters highin which temperatures fluctuate between -50ºC and 30ºC. It is used to imitate space conditions and check the performance and stability of the systems that are planned to be brought there. In the case of the MK1, it has been proven that it has great structural resistance and that it withstands thermal stress as expected. From MK1 to MK2. In general, the results of these tests They have been very positive. Even so, there have been learnings that will be applied in the development of MK2, the manned lander with which it is expected to perform commercial services for NASA. Logically, the main manned commercial service that Blue Origin wants to be part of is the Artemis program. But there is a competitor with the same purpose. The race against SpaceX. NASA launched the development of the HLS manned landing system for Artemis in the hands of SpaceX and Blue Origin. Both have received funding for the development of their respective technologies, so the US space agency ensures that it will keep the one that finishes first. As long as the result is reliable, of course. It seemed that in this competition SpaceX clearly had the upper hand. However, some recent bugs and delays are allowing Blue Origin advance and continue in the fight. Will you pass them on the right? For now, the situation is equal. We’ll have to wait and see what happens, but the success of the MK1 tests leaves plenty of room for optimism for Jeff Bezos’ space company. Images | POT In Xataka | The launch pads are saturated for all space companies. For all but one: SpaceX

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