The Latest Update on the Future of Deep Space Exploration...

L3Harris Technologies, Inc.

Getting into the Space Nuclear Power Game with Next-generation Technology (News Release)

Finalized design of Next Gen RTG clears path for deep space missions to outer Solar System.

L3Harris Technologies has finalized the design of a next-generation nuclear-based power source for future NASA deep space missions, marking a crucial advancement in spacecraft power technology.

The Next-Generation Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator (Next Gen RTG) cleared its critical design review (CDR) on April 2, 2026, paving the way for a new era of outer Solar System exploration.

“Passing the CDR is an important milestone because it validates that our design meets all the technical requirements and can be manufactured,” said Bill Sack, General Manager, RocketWorks and Power Systems at L3Harris. “It also demonstrates we've successfully re-established this critical capability after years of limited production.”

Flight units could power NASA deep space probes starting in the early 2030s, including a proposed Uranus orbiter that would use two Next Gen RTGs for power and for keeping its temperature-sensitive components warm enough to operate in the frigid environment of the outer Solar System. This dual-purpose capability makes RTGs indispensable for such missions.

What is the Next Gen RTG?

RTGs convert heat from the radioactive decay of plutonium-238 into electricity. Necessary for probes that are too far from the Sun to rely on solar power, they have been in use for 60 years. Early versions continue to supply power to NASA’s twin Voyager probes, which were launched in 1977 and are now traveling in interstellar space.

The Next Gen RTG is an evolution of the general-purpose heat source RTGs that supplied power to NASA’s Cassini Saturn orbiter and, more recently, the New Horizons probe, which carried out a Pluto flyby in 2015 and is now exploring the frozen wonders of the Kuiper Belt. Unlike the L3Harris-built Multi-Mission RTGs currently powering NASA's Curiosity and Perseverance Mars rovers, the Next Gen RTGs are optimized for spacecraft operating in the vacuum of space rather than on the surface of a planet.

This distinction is critical for future missions. The vacuum-optimized design allows for more efficient heat rejection and power generation in the deep space environment where missions like the Uranus orbiter will operate. As a result, the Next Gen RTG offers a higher power output at approximately the same weight as the Multi-Mission RTG. With the capability to generate about 250 watts of power at the beginning of its life, each Next Gen RTG will provide reliable, long-duration power for spacecraft exploring the outer reaches of our Solar System.

“The Next Gen RTG represents a significant leap forward in efficiency," added Sack. "We're delivering more power in the same mass envelope, which is critical when every kilogram matters for deep space missions."

Why the Next Gen RTG Matters

The availability of Next Gen RTGs opens the door to a range of ambitious missions that have been on NASA's wish list. Beyond the Uranus orbiter, these power systems could enable:

- Extended missions to Neptune and its moon, Triton
- Kuiper Belt Object explorers that can go beyond the range of the New Horizons spacecraft
- Long-duration missions to the outer planets' moons
- Interstellar precursor missions that push even farther than Voyager 1 and Voyager 2

Restarting Production

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory tapped L3Harris in 2021 to re-establish the key technologies from the heritage system and update the design in response to growing interest in new deep space missions. The contract is expected to end in 2027 with a production readiness review to verify that the next-generation system can be built using the materials and components that have been re-established.

“We are proving we can do it again," said Leo Gard, Space Propulsion & Power Systems Program Manager at L3Harris. “While we didn't build the original generators, we've successfully reconstructed incomplete documentation and identified modern equivalents for obsolete components through creative problem-solving."

A Collaborative Effort

As prime contractor on the Next Gen RTG program, L3Harris is responsible for the main structure and overall system integration. Teledyne Energy Systems Inc. of Hunt Valley, Maryland, makes the thermoelectric couples that convert heat to electricity, while BAE Systems Space and Mission Systems in Boulder, Colorado, is responsible for insulation.

Source: L3Harris Technologies, Inc.

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L.M. Prockter et al. LPI / JPL / SwRI / Richard T. Par


Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory

An Amazing Celestial Mosaic by Kepler's Successor...

NASA / MIT / TESS and Veselin Kostov (University of Maryland College Park)

NASA’s Planet-Hunting TESS Reveals Dazzling Night Sky (News Release)

NASA’s TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite) has released its most complete view of the starry sky to date, filling in gaps from previous observations. Nearly 6,000 colored dots scattered across the image show the locations of either confirmed or candidate exoplanets — worlds beyond our Solar System — identified by the mission as of September 2025 at the end of TESS’s second extended mission.

“Over the last eight years, TESS has become a fire hose of exoplanet science,” said Rebekah Hounsell, a TESS associate project scientist at the University of Maryland Baltimore County and NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “It’s helped us find planets of all different sizes, from tiny Mercury-like ones to those larger than Jupiter. Some of them are even in the habitable zone, where liquid water might be possible on the surface, an important factor in our search for life beyond Earth.”

The TESS mission scans a wide swath of the sky, called a sector, for about a month at a time using its four cameras. These long stares allow the spacecraft to track the brightness changes of tens of thousands of stars, looking for variations in their light that might come from orbiting planets.

Researchers assembled an all-sky mosaic made of 96 sectors observed between April 2018, when TESS began its work, and September 2025.

The blue dots in the image mark the locations of nearly 700 confirmed planets, as of September 9. This menagerie includes worlds that may be covered by volcanoes, are being destroyed by their stars, or orbit two stars — experiencing double sunrises and sunsets each day. The orange dots represent more than 5,000 candidate planets that are awaiting verification.

To date, scientists have confirmed over 6,270 exoplanets using missions like TESS, NASA’s retired Kepler Space Telescope, and other facilities.

Also captured in the mosaic is the bright plane of our Milky Way galaxy, seen as a glowing arc through the center. The bright white ovals in the lower left are the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds. These satellite galaxies are located 160,000 and 200,000 light-years away, respectively.

“The more we dig into the large TESS dataset, especially using automated algorithms, the more surprises we find,” said Allison Youngblood, the TESS project scientist at NASA Goddard. “In addition to planets, TESS has helped us study rivers of young stars, observe dynamic galactic behavior, and monitor asteroids near Earth. As TESS fills in more of the night sky, there’s no knowing what it might see next.”

Source: NASA.Gov

The Latest Update on the Mars 2020 Rover...

NASA / JPL - Caltech / MSSS

NASA’s Perseverance Rover Snaps Selfie in Mars’ Western Frontier (News Release)

The agency’s six-wheeled geologist took a self-portrait during its survey of an ancient landscape that may predate the formation of Jezero Crater itself.

NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover recently took a self-portrait against a sweeping backdrop of ancient Martian terrain at a location that the science team calls “Lac de Charmes.” Assembled from 61 individual images, the selfie shows Perseverance training its mast on a rocky outcrop on which it had just made a circular abrasion patch, with the western rim of Jezero Crater stretching into the background. The selfie was captured on March 11, the 1,797th Martian day, or sol, of the mission, during the rover’s deepest push west beyond the crater.

Perseverance is in its fifth science campaign, known as the Northern Rim Campaign, of its mission on the Red Planet. The Lac de Charmes region represents some of the most scientifically-compelling terrain that the rover has visited.

“We took this image when the rover was in the ‘Wild West’ beyond the Jezero Crater rim — the farthest west we have been since we landed at Jezero a little over five years ago,” said Katie Stack Morgan, Perseverance’s project scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. “We had just abraded and analyzed the ‘Arathusa’ outcrop, and the rover was sitting in a spot that provided a great view of both the Jezero Rim and the local terrain outside of the crater.”

During abrading, the rover grinds down a portion of the rock’s surface, allowing the science team to analyze what’s inside. The technique enabled the team to determine that the Arathusa outcrop is composed of igneous minerals that likely predate the formation of Jezero Crater. Igneous rocks with large mineral crystals form underground as molten rock cools and solidifies.

Perseverance acquired the selfie — its sixth since landing on Mars in 2021 — using the WATSON (Wide Angle Topographic Sensor for Operations and eNgineering) camera mounted at the end of its robotic arm, which made 62 precision movements over approximately one hour to build the composite image (learn more about how selfies are made).

Significant science

Along with the selfie, Perseverance used Mastcam-Z, located on its mast, to capture a mosaic of the “Arbot” area in Lac de Charmes on April 5, or Sol 1882. Made of 46 images, the panorama offers one of the richest geological vistas of the mission, revealing a windswept landscape of diverse rock textures.

The image provides the team a clear road map for investigating the ridgeline and the area’s ancient rock variety, including what appear to be megabreccia — large fragments (some the size of skyscrapers) hurled by a massive meteorite impact that occurred on the plain called Isidis Planitia about 3.9 billion years ago.

“What I see in this image is excellent exposure of likely the oldest rocks we are going to investigate during this mission,” said Ken Farley, Perseverance’s deputy project scientist at Caltech in Pasadena. “There is a sharp ridgeline visible in the mosaic whose jagged, angular texture contrasts starkly with the rounded boulders in the foreground. We also see a feature that may be a volcanic dike, a vertical intrusion of magma that hardened in place and was left standing as the softer surrounding material eroded away over billions of years.”

The rock color in the mosaic offers less information to the science team than the distinctive textures, which help them differentiate the rock types. Unlike Jezero Crater’s river delta, which is composed of sedimentary rock, some rocks here appear to be extrusive igneous rocks (molten rock that reached the surface as lava flows) and impactites (rocks created or modified by a meteorite impact) believed to have formed before the crater about 4 billion years ago, offering a window into the planet’s deep early crust.

New ballgame, near-marathon distance

“The rover’s study of these really ancient rocks is a whole new ballgame,” said Stack Morgan. “These rocks — especially if they’re from deep in the crust — could give us insights applicable to the entire planet, like whether there was a magma ocean on Mars and what initial conditions eventually made it a habitable planet.”

After studying Arathusa, Perseverance drove northwest to the Arbot area, where it has been analyzing other rocky outcrops. When the team is satisfied with the work accomplished there, the rover will drive south to “Gardevarri,” a site with a notably clear exposure of olivine-bearing rocks. Formed in cooling magma, these types of rocks contain information that can help scientists better understand Mars’ volcanic history and provide context for large-scale geological processes.

From Gardevarri, the rover is expected to head southeast towards a region that the team is calling “Singing Canyon” for more insights into the planet’s early crust.

After more than five years of surface operations, Perseverance has abraded 62 rocks, collected 27 rock cores in its sample tubes (25 sealed, 2 unsealed), and traveled almost 26 miles (42 kilometers) — in other words, just shy of a marathon (26.2 miles, or 42.195 kilometers).

“Having the benefit of four previous rover missions, the Perseverance team has always known our mission was a marathon and not a sprint,” said acting Perseverance project manager Steve Lee at JPL. “We’ve almost reached marathon distance. Our selfie may show that the rover is a bit dusty, but its beauty is more than skin deep. Perseverance is in great shape as we continue our explorations and extend into ultramarathon drive distances.”

Source: Jet Propulsion Laboratory

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NASA / JPL - Caltech / MSSS

NASA / JPL - Caltech / ASU / MSSS

The Latest Update on America's Next Saturn-bound Robotic Explorer...

NASA / Johns Hopkins APL / Ed Whitman

NASA’s Dragonfly Rotorcraft Gets Decked Out, Tested (News Release)

NASA’s Dragonfly rotorcraft is beginning to take shape – literally – with the delivery of the panels that make up the rotorcraft lander’s body. Built from ultra‑lightweight honeycomb panels designed at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland, and manufactured by Lockheed Martin Space in Denver, the primary structure is specially designed for the challenges of flight on Saturn’s largest moon Titan.

Each panel uses aluminum face sheets only 0.01 inches thick — much thinner than typically used on spacecraft — to meet the strict mass limits required for powered flight through Titan’s atmosphere. But while the entire frame weighs just 230 pounds, it’s also durable. “The structure is remarkably light and yet strong enough to withstand the intense forces of launch and the entry into Titan’s atmosphere,” said Gordon Maahs, the Dragonfly mechanical systems engineer from APL. “We’ve never built anything like it.”

In early April, the APL team began assembling the fuselage and integrating key structural elements, including the mounting plate and cover for Dragonfly’s power source, a multi-mission radioisotope thermoelectric generator, which will be installed just before launch. Engineers also performed a fit check of the top deck, which carries components of Dragonfly’s telecommunications system.

In May, vibration and static-load tests will be performed on the structure to measure Dragonfly’s response to the dynamic forces of launch (from Earth) and atmospheric entry and landing (on Titan). “The lander is starting to look like Dragonfly,” said Hunter Reeling, Dragonfly’s thermal mechanical integration and test lead from APL. “We’re excited to see the designs coming to life.”

Parachute passes test

In February, the mission achieved a significant milestone with the successful completion of another series of parachute drop tests, key to the development of the parachute decelerator elements of the entry, descent and landing (EDL) system that will decelerate the Dragonfly lander as it descends into Titan’s atmosphere.

Led by Airborne Systems of Santa Ana, California, in coordination with NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, and NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley, and conducted in Eloy, Arizona, the test marked the first trials of a full-scale parachute system, including both the drogue and main parachutes. These tests on Earth are designed to closely replicate the environment that Dragonfly will encounter within Titan’s atmosphere.

The team plans to conduct another series of similar design-qualification tests in October before building the flight systems.

Preparing to sample Titan’s surface

Dragonfly’s portable chemistry lab, which will study Titan’s surface composition, is in the final stages of integration and testing at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. This payload, called the Dragonfly Mass Spectrometer (DraMS), includes two systems for releasing molecules from samples that Dragonfly will collect: laser desorption and gas chromatography. Once released, the molecules will flow to a mass spectrometer, which will identify them by their masses.

On April 15, engineers completed testing of the laser system, which was integrated within DraMS in February. Using a sample with known compounds, the team confirmed that the laser and mass spectrometer can identify the chemicals in a relevant sample, even in very small amounts.

Over the next few weeks, engineers will install the gas chromatography system into DraMS and carry out similar tests. The gas chromatography system, provided by CNES (Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales), works by heating a sample, releasing molecules, and separating them before analysis. Together, the laser- and gas-analysis systems will help Dragonfly detect compounds across a wide range of sizes.

Dragonfly is scheduled to launch no earlier than 2028 for a six-year voyage to Saturn’s moon Titan, where it will spend three years flying from location to location to explore a range of sites to study the chemistry, geology, and atmosphere of the Earthlike moon and ultimately advance our understanding of life’s chemical origins.

Source: NASA.Gov

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Airborne Systems North America

New Dragonfly hardware! Last week, leaders from NASA visited our facilities to see the aeroshell and fuel tanks for @NASASolarSystem's Dragonfly, a partnership w/@JHUAPL.

These technologies are critical for the nuclear-powered rotorcraft to safely get to Saturn's moon, Titan. pic.twitter.com/RmKeGVmWti

— Lockheed Martin Space (@LMSpace) April 20, 2026

America's Next Great Observatory Is Ready to Fly...

NASA / Scott Wiessinger

NASA Targets Early September for Roman Space Telescope Launch (News Release)

NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope team is now targeting as soon as early September 2026 for launch, ahead of the agency’s commitment to flight no later than May 2027.

“Roman’s accelerated development is a true success story of what we can achieve when public investment, institutional expertise, and private enterprise come together to take on the near-impossible missions that change the world,” said NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman, who announced the update at a news conference on April 21 at the agency’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.

Roman will pair a large field of view with crisp infrared vision to survey deep, vast swaths of sky. While the mission was designed with dark energy, dark matter, and exoplanets in mind, Roman’s unprecedented observational capability will offer practically limitless opportunities for astronomers to explore all kinds of cosmic topics.

By the end of its five-year primary mission, Roman is expected to amass a 20,000-terabyte data archive. Scientists can draw on it to identify and study 100,000 exoplanets, hundreds of millions of galaxies, billions of stars, and rare objects and phenomena — including some that astronomers have never witnessed before.

Roman will launch on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. NASA and SpaceX will share more information about a specific launch date, and the agency will continue to share updates concerning prelaunch preparations as new information becomes available.

The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is managed at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, with participation by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Caltech/IPAC in Southern California, the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore, and scientists from various research institutions.

Source: NASA.Gov

The Latest Discovery in the Search for Life on the Red Planet...

NASA / JPL - Caltech / MSSS

NASA’s Curiosity Finds Organic Molecules Never Seen Before on Mars (News Release)

After years of lab work, the results are in: A rock that NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover drilled and analyzed in 2020 includes the most diverse collection of organic molecules ever found on the Red Planet. Of the 21 carbon-containing molecules identified in the sample, seven of them were detected for the first time on Mars.

Scientists have no way of knowing whether these organic molecules were created by biologic or geologic processes — either path is possible — but their discovery renewed confirmation that ancient Mars had the right chemistry to support life. What’s more, the molecules join a growing list of compounds known to be preserved in rocks even after billions of years of exposure on Mars to radiation, which can break down these molecules over time.

The findings are detailed in a new paper published on Tuesday in Nature Communications.

The rock sample, nicknamed “Mary Anning 3” after an English fossil collector and paleontologist, was collected on a part of Mount Sharp covered by lakes and streams billions of years ago. This oasis surged and dried up multiple times in the planet’s ancient past, eventually enriching the area with clay minerals, which are especially good at preserving organic compounds — carbon-containing molecules that are the building blocks of life and are found throughout the Solar System.

Among the newly-identified molecules is a nitrogen heterocycle, a ring of carbon atoms that includes nitrogen. This kind of molecular structure is considered a predecessor to RNA and DNA, two nucleic acids that are key to genetic information.

“That detection is pretty profound because these structures can be chemical precursors to more complex nitrogen-bearing molecules,” said the paper’s lead author, Amy Williams of the University of Florida in Gainesville. “Nitrogen heterorcycles have never been found before on the Martian surface or confirmed in Martian meteorites.”

Another exciting discovery was benzothiophene, a carbon- and sulfur-bearing molecule that’s been found in many meteorites. These meteorites, along with the organic molecules within them, are thought by some scientists to have seeded prebiotic chemistry across the early Solar System.

Martian chemistry

The new paper complements last year’s finding of the largest organic molecules ever discovered on Mars: long-chain hydrocarbons, including decane, undecane and dodecane.

“This is Curiosity and our team at their best. It took dozens of scientists and engineers to locate this site, drill the sample, and make these discoveries with our awesome robot,” said the mission’s project scientist, Ashwin Vasavada of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. “This collection of organic molecules once again increases the prospect that Mars offered a home for life in the ancient past.”

Both sets of findings were made with a sophisticated minilab called Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM), located in Curiosity’s belly. A drill on the end of the rover’s robotic arm pulverizes a carefully selected rock sample into powder and then trickles it into SAM, where a high-temperature oven heats the material, releasing gases that instruments in the lab analyze to reveal the rock’s composition.

In addition, SAM can perform “wet chemistry,” dropping samples into a small cup of solvent. The resulting reactions can break apart larger molecules that would be difficult to detect and identify otherwise. While the instrument has several such cups, only two contain tetramethylammonium hydroxide (TMAH), a powerful solution reserved for the highest-value samples.

The Mary Anning 3 sample was the first to be exposed to TMAH.

To verify TMAH’s reactions with otherworldly materials, the paper’s authors also tested the technique on Earth with a piece of the Murchison meteorite, one of the most studied meteorites of all time. More than 4 billion years old, Murchison contains organic molecules that were seeded throughout the early Solar System. A Murchison sample exposed to TMAH was found to break much larger molecules into some of the ones seen in Mary Anning 3, including benzothiophene.

That result verifies that the Martian molecules found in Mary Anning 3 could have been generated from the breakdown of even more complex compounds relevant to life.

Curiosity recently used its second and final TMAH cup while exploring weblike boxwork ridges, which were formed by ancient groundwater. The mission team will be analyzing those results for a future peer-reviewed paper.

Trailblazing for future missions

Built by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, SAM is based on larger, commercial-grade lab instruments. Getting such complex equipment into the rover required engineers to dramatically shrink it down and develop a way for it to run on less power. Scientists had to learn how to heat up SAM’s oven more slowly over longer periods in order to conduct some of these experiments.

“It was a feat just figuring out how to conduct this kind of chemistry for the first time on Mars,” said Charles Malespin, the instrument’s principal investigator at NASA Goddard and a study coauthor. “But now that we’ve had some practice, we’re prepared to run similar experiments on future missions.”

In fact, NASA Goddard has provided several components, including the mass spectrometer, for a next-generation version of SAM, called the Mars Organic Molecular Analyzer, for ESA’s (European Space Agency) Rosalind Franklin Mars rover. A similar instrument, the Dragonfly Mass Spectrometer, will explore Saturn’s moon Titan on NASA’s Dragonfly rotorcraft. Both instruments will be able to perform wet chemistry with the TMAH solvent.

Source: NASA.Gov

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NASA / JPL - Caltech / MSSS

The Latest Update on Humanity's Twin Interstellar Probes...

Caltech / NASA - JPL

NASA Shuts Off Instrument on Voyager 1 to Keep Spacecraft Operating (News Release)

On April 17, engineers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Southern California sent commands to shut down an instrument aboard Voyager 1 called the Low-energy Charged Particles experiment, or LECP. The nuclear-powered spacecraft is running low on power, and turning off the LECP is considered the best way to keep humanity’s first interstellar explorer going.

The LECP has been operating almost without interruption since Voyager 1 launched in 1977 — almost 49 years. It measures low-energy charged particles, including ions, electrons and cosmic rays originating from our Solar System and galaxy. The instrument has provided critical data about the structure of the interstellar medium, detecting pressure fronts and regions of varying particle density in the space beyond our heliosphere.

The twin Voyagers are the only spacecraft that are far enough from Earth to provide this information.

Like Voyager 2, Voyager 1 relies on a radioisotope thermoelectric generator, a device that converts heat from decaying plutonium into electricity. Both probes lose about 4 watts of power each year. After almost a half-century in space, power margins have grown razor thin, requiring the team to conserve energy by shutting off heaters and instruments while making sure the spacecraft don’t get so cold that their fuel lines freeze.

During a routine, planned roll maneuver on February 27, Voyager 1’s power levels fell unexpectedly. Mission engineers knew that any additional drop in power could trigger the spacecraft’s undervoltage fault protection system, which would shut down components on its own to safeguard the probe, requiring recovery by the flight team — a lengthy process that carries its own risks.

The Voyager team needed to act first.

“While shutting down a science instrument is not anybody’s preference, it is the best option available,” said Kareem Badaruddin, Voyager mission manager at JPL. “Voyager 1 still has two remaining operating science instruments — one that listens to plasma waves and one that measures magnetic fields. They are still working great, sending back data from a region of space no other human-made craft has ever explored. The team remains focused on keeping both Voyagers going for as long as possible.”

Far-out plan

The choice of which instrument to turn off next wasn’t made in the heat of the moment. Years ago, the Voyager science and engineering teams sat down together and agreed on the order in which they would shut off parts of the spacecraft while ensuring that the mission can continue to conduct its unique science. Of the 10 identical sets of instruments that each spacecraft carries, seven have been shut off so far.

For Voyager 1, the LECP was next on that list. The team shut off the LECP on Voyager 2 in March 2025.

Because Voyager 1 is more than 15 billion miles (25 billion kilometers) from Earth, the sequence of commands to shut down the instrument will take 23 or so hours to reach the spacecraft, and the shutdown process itself will take about three hours and 15 minutes to complete. One part of the LECP — a small motor that spins the sensor in a circle to scan in all directions — will remain on. It uses little power (0.5 watts), and keeping it running gives the team the best chance of being able to turn the instrument back on someday if they find extra power.

What comes next

Engineers are confident that shutting down the LECP will give Voyager 1 about a year of breathing room. They are using the time to finalize a more ambitious energy-saving fix for both Voyagers that they call “the Big Bang,” which is designed to further extend Voyager operations. The idea is to swap out a group of powered devices all at once — hence the nickname — turning some things off and replacing them with lower-power alternatives to keep the spacecraft warm enough to continue gathering science data.

The team will implement the Big Bang on Voyager 2 first, which has a little more power to spare and is closer to Earth, making it the safer test subject. Tests are planned for May and June 2026. If they go well, the team will attempt the same fix on Voyager 1 no sooner than July.

If the Big Bang works, there is even a chance that Voyager 1’s LECP could be switched back on.

Source: NASA.Gov

America's Newest X-Plane (Briefly) Goes Airborne for the Second Time...

NASA / Jim Ross

NASA’s X-59 Experimental Supersonic Aircraft Makes Second Flight (News Release)

NASA’s quiet supersonic X-59 aircraft made its second flight on Friday, kicking off a series of dozens of test flights in 2026.

Although the flight duration was abbreviated due to a technical issue, the team was able to collect information that will inform future tests.

“Despite the early landing, this is a good day for the team. We collected more data, and the pilot landed safely,” said Cathy Bahm, project manager for NASA’s Low-Boom Flight Demonstrator at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center, in Edwards, California. “We’re looking forward to getting back to flight as soon as possible.”

The aircraft took off at 10:54 a.m. PDT from Edwards Air Force Base, near NASA Armstrong. Several minutes into the flight, pilot Jim “Clue” Less saw a vehicle system warning in the aircraft’s cockpit. Following flight procedures, the aircraft landed at 11:03 a.m. after a return-to-base was called.

“As we like to say, it was just like the simulator – and that’s what we like to hear,” Less said. “This is just the beginning of a long flight campaign.”

The X-59 is designed to fly supersonic – or faster than the speed of sound – while generating only a quiet thump instead of a loud sonic boom. The X-59 is the centerpiece of NASA’s QueSST mission, which is working to make commercial supersonic flight over land a reality.

The aircraft is set to accelerate testing in 2026, demonstrating performance and airworthiness during a process known as envelope expansion, where it will gradually fly faster and higher, on its way to supersonic speeds.

Source: NASA.Gov

America's Next Saturn-bound Robotic Explorer Is Officially in Assembly!

NASA / Johns Hopkins APL

NASA’s Dragonfly Mission Begins Rotorcraft Integration, Testing Stage (News Release - March 10)

NASA Dragonfly’s integration and testing – the activities involved in assembling the mission’s rotorcraft lander and testing it for the rigors of launch and extreme conditions of space – is officially underway in clean rooms and control rooms at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland.

In partnership with teams across government, industry and academia, APL is building the car-sized, nuclear-powered drone for NASA. Dragonfly is scheduled to launch no earlier than 2028 for a six-year voyage to Saturn’s moon Titan, where it will explore a range of diverse sites to study the chemistry, geology and atmosphere of the terrestrial moon and ultimately advance our understanding of life’s chemical origins.

Primary activities during the first weeks of this effort included power and functional testing on two critical components: the Integrated Electronics Module (IEM) and the Power Switching Units (PSUs). Think of the IEM as Dragonfly’s “brain,” containing the spacecraft’s core avionics (such as command and data handling, guidance and navigation, and communications) in a single space-saving and power-efficient box. The IEM and both PSUs were connected to Dragonfly’s wiring system and passed their first power-service checks.

“This milestone essentially marks the birth of our flight system,” said Elizabeth Turtle, Dragonfly principal investigator from APL. “Building a first-of-its kind vehicle to fly across another ocean world in our Solar System pushes us to the edge of what’s possible, but that’s exactly why this stage is so exciting. The team is doing an outstanding job, and every component we install and every test we run brings us one step closer to launching Dragonfly to Titan.”

Much work has led up to this point. The aeroshell and cruise-stage assemblies are moving forward with integration and testing at Lockheed Martin Space in Littleton, Colorado. The team completed a thorough aerodynamic test series in the wind tunnels of NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. Testing continues in the Titan Chamber at APL of the foam coating that will insulate the rotorcraft from Titan’s frigid temperatures.

The science payload is coming together at locations around the country and internationally. The flight radio has been delivered, and additional flight systems are scheduled for delivery and testing within the next six months.

Dragonfly integration and testing will continue at APL through this year and into early 2027, when system-level testing is planned at Lockheed Martin. Late next year, the lander returns to APL for final space-environment testing before heading to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida in spring 2028 for launch aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket that summer.

“Starting integration and testing is a huge milestone for the Dragonfly team,” said Annette Dolbow, the Dragonfly integration and test lead at APL. “We’ve spent years designing and refining this amazing rotorcraft on computer screens and in laboratories, and now we get to bring all those elements together and transform Dragonfly into an actual flight system.”

Source: NASA.Gov

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NASA / Johns Hopkins APL / Ed Whitman


NASA / Johns Hopkins APL / Steve Gribben

Today marks 40 days since my Mom's passing.

My family attended a Mass this morning to honor her.