Important Innovations Collection

New Glenn Rocket Part of NASA's Commercial Launch Fleet                                            Source:  Blue Origin Jeff Bezos's Rockets Soaring Into Space Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos' space company Blue Origin has scored a big win.  NASA has selected the New Glenn rocket as a launcher for future NASA missions in the mid-2020's.  New Glenn joins NASA's fleet of launch vehicles. New Shepherd NASA has launched Blue Origin's New Shepherd suborbital vehicle dozens of times to fly payloads into space.  The New Glenn is an orbital launcher that can reuse its first stage booster rocket.  Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos says he expects the vehicle will carry humans as well as cargo into space. Space Technology New Glenn is a two stage booster rocket vehicle.  The rocket's reusable first stage is designed to re-fly twenty-five times, after touchi...

BE-7 Lunar Lander Rocket Engine:  4th Successful Test                                           Source:  Blue Origin BE-7 Test Bezos Says BE-7 Will Land 1st Woman on the Moon Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos has announced that his space company Blue Origin has completed its fourth successful test of its lunar lander rocket engine, the BE-7.  He added the BE-7 will land the first women astronaut on the Moon.  This comment is interesting because Bezos is not taken to making predictions.  Unlike SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, he is very conservative and quiet about what he wants to target, until he achieves it. NASA's Big Artemis Competition For Blue Origin, SpaceX and Dynetics, the stakes couldn't be higher.  They are competing to be NASA's partner in the Artemis mission which will take astronauts to the Moon in 2024.  It will be the first...

Where There Is Water, There May be Life                                                                                         Source:  NASA Moon Big Scientific Discovery Push Is Underway NASA's SOPHIA Telescope has discovered water on the Moon.  That is a very big finding because the presence of water holds the potential of the presence of life.  Areas with the presence of water on the Moon and on other planets are the prime locations that NASA targets to search for new forms of life in space. NASA's Critical New Questions NASA is now asking a series of critical questions about the findings.  How much water is there in the places that SOPHIA has spotted?  How can the water be used by future astronaut...

New Space Agreement Between US and Italy Source:  NASA Focus: Technology For 2024 Artemis Mission to the Moon The US and Italy have signed an agreement to explore space together.  Specifically, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine and Italy's Undersecretary to the Presidency Riccardo Fraccaro have agreed to cooperate on NASA's Artemis mission that will land US astronauts on the Moon.  Other space projects are also covered in the agreement.  According to the CEO of the Italian aerospace and defense group Leonardo, the agreement will generate at least $1.16 billion for the Italian space industry. Artemis and Italy's Technology NASA's Artemis mission aims to land the first woman and the next man on the lunar surface in 2024.  NASA wants to establish a sustainable presence on the Moon by the end of this decade.  Leonardo CEO Allesandro Profumo says Italy will be making a significant technology contribution by developing habitable surface modules for human explore...

Moon is a Waystation to Mars Source:  Artemis on the Moon Artemis Lunar Program NASA has announced that it intends to build a long term presence on the Moon.  The Agency says that will eventually help humans to get to Mars.  NASA has a strategy.  The Moon will provide a waystation to Mars and it will serve as a testing ground for the technology needed for interplanetary exploration and habitats. Sustainable Architecture for Humans in Space According to the Administrator of NASA Jim Bridenstine, NASA is working to build "a sustainable open architecture" to return humans to the Moon by 2024.  Mr. Bridenstine testified this week before a US Senate committee in Washington, DC.  He said that NASA is building for the long term on the Moon  and then is going to use the Moon as a base to go to Mars and beyond. Outerspace Technology Testing Site NASA considers the Moon a testing stage where new technologies can be proven before going to Mars....