Impulse Space has already started working on the moon lander’s engine, which will “use a nitrous and ethane bipropellant — the same combination used successfully in space on Mira,” Mueller wrote.
And he reminded readers that Impulse took Mira from a mere design on paper to a functioning spacecraft in Earth orbit in less than 15 months.
“We’re confident in our ability to deliver this solution because of our strong track record of rapid success,” Mueller wrote of his company’s moon plans.
ESA’s new Exploration Biobank received its first biological samples linked to European space research in Portugal this week.
The shipment contained over 1,400 human samples from the Vivaldi III bedrest and dry-immersion campaign that took place earlier this year at Medes space clinic in Toulouse, France. Vivaldi III had a group of volunteers lying down on a waterbed and another group in bedrest for 10 days to recreate some of the effects of spaceflight on the body.
Samples of blood, saliva, urine, stool and hair from the participants arrived at the Biobank of the Gulbenkian Institute for Molecular Medicine (GIMM) in Lisbon on 14 October following strict safety, traceability and conservation protocols.
Approximately 550 employees of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) will be laid off, according to an announcement made on the agency’s website on Monday (Oct. 13).
The news comes in the midst of an ongoing U.S. government shutdown and the looming threat of the single largest funding reduction in NASA’s 66-year history. Due to those potential cuts, NASA has been forced to reshape many of its science and space exploration efforts. However, NASA has stated this latest wave of layoffs are unrelated to the government shutdown that has seen over 15,000 federal employees furloughed and is, rather, part of an agency-wide “reorganization” that began in June.
Weather forecasting is a powerful tool. During hurricane season, for instance, meteorologists create computer simulations to forecast how these destructive storms form and where they might travel, which helps prevent damage to coastal communities.
When you’re trying to forecast space weather, rather than storms on Earth, creating these simulations gets a little more complex.
To simulate space weather, you would need to fit the Sun, the planets, and the vast empty space between them in a virtual environment, also known as a simulation box, where all the calculations would take place.
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00:00 Starship Landing.
A team of engineers from Polytechnique Montréal report a new and unique parachute concept inspired by the Japanese art of kirigami today in Nature. This simple, robust and low-cost approach has a wide variety of potential applications ranging from humanitarian aid to space exploration.
Kirigami is a technique that modifies the mechanical properties of a sheet of material by making precise folds and cuts to it. Children use it to make snowflakes out of paper, and engineers have used it to create extensible structures, flexible medical devices and deployable spatial structures. However, kirigami techniques have never been applied to parachute production.
The Polytechnique Montréal research team has now changed all that.
NASA has launched the 2026 Human Lander Challenge, inviting U.S.-based university students to propose fresh concepts for life support and environmental systems vital to long-duration spaceflight. The program, part of the Artemis campaign, focuses on advancing Environmental Control and Life Support System (ECLSS) technologies needed to sustain astronauts on the Moon and future missions to Mars.
The challenge seeks undergraduate and graduate teams to design systems-level solutions across four subtopics: noise control, sensor reduction in health monitoring hardware, potable water dispensing, and fluid transfer between lunar or Martian surface assets. Proposals must improve ECLSS reliability in areas such as air, water, and waste management.
“A robust ECLSS transforms a spacecraft like a lander from just hardware into a livable environment, providing breathable air, clean water, and safe conditions for astronauts as they explore the Moon,” said Kevin Gutierrez, acting office manager for the Human Landing Systems Missions Systems Management Office at NASA Marshall. “Without ECLSS we can’t sustain human presence on the Moon or take the next steps toward Mars. The subtopics in the 2026 Human Lander Challenge reflect opportunities for students to support the future of human spaceflight.”
