NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) rocket designed to take astronauts to the moon is over budget and far behind it's original schedule, according to a scathing new audit from NASA's Inspector General. Furthermore, the report foresees "additional cost and schedule increases" that could potentially jeopardize the entire Artemis mission if problems aren't handled. 

NASA's spending on the Artemis Moon Program is expected to reach $93 billion by 2025, including $23.8 billion already spent on the SLS system through 2022. That sum represents "$6 billion in cost increases and over six years in schedule delays above NASA’s original projections," the report states. 

The SLS, which finally launched for the first time in November 2022, uses four RS-25 engines per launch, including 16 salvaged from retired Space Shuttles. Once those run out (all engines on SLS are expendable), NASA will switch to RS-25E engines being built by Aerojet Rocketdyne, which are supposed to be 30 percent cheaper and 11 percent more powerful. It also uses solid rocket boosters provided by Northrop Grumman. 

The older technology isn't helping with the budget as NASA expected, though. "These increases are caused by interrelated issues such as assumptions that the use of heritage technologies from the Space Shuttle and Constellation Programs were expected to result in significant cost and schedule savings compared to developing new systems for the SLS," the audit states. "However, the complexity of developing, updating, and integrating new systems along with heritage components proved to be much greater than anticipated." 

For instance, only 5 of the 16 engine adaptations have been completed, and scope and cost increases have hit the booster contract as well. The latter has been the biggest issue, increasing from $2.5 billion to $4.4 billion since Artemis was announced, and delaying the schedule by five years. 

The Inspector General also blames the use of "cost-plus" contracts that allow suppliers to inflate budgets more easily, instead of fixed-priced contracts. The report recommends that upcoming work be shifted to a fixed-price regime and that procurement issues be resolved, among others. NASA management has agreed to all eight recommendations. 

The Artemis moon mission project was based on the Constellation program, originally launched in 2005 with the goal of returning to the moon by 2020 and eventually, Mars. Cancellation of that project by the Obama administration was met with widespread criticism, largely because the program guaranteed jobs around the US. 

However, the NASA Authorization Act of 2010, introduced the same year, mandated construction of the SLS and requiring the repurposing of existing technology, contracts and workforce from Constellation. It also required partnerships with private space companies. SpaceX, for one, is developing its own Starship rocket system, also capable of carrying astronauts to the Moon and Mars. However, Starship exploded on its first orbital launch mission, and may not fly again soon due to issues with the self-destruct command and the considerable damage it did to local ecosystems. 

Japan and JAXA, the country’s space administration, have spent decades trying to make it possible to beam solar energy from space. In 2015, the nation made a breakthrough when JAXA scientists successfully beamed 1.8 kilowatts of power, enough energy to power an electric kettle, more than 50 meters to a wireless receiver. Now, Japan is poised to bring the technology one step closer to reality.

Nikkei reports a Japanese public-private partnership will attempt to beam solar energy from space as early as 2025. The project, led by Naoki Shinohara, a Kyoto University professor who has been working on space-based solar energy since 2009, will attempt to deploy a series of small satellites in orbit. Those will then try to beam the solar energy the arrays collect to ground-based receiving stations hundreds of miles away.

Using orbital solar panels and microwaves to send energy to Earth was first proposed in 1968. Since then, a few countries, including China and the US, have spent time and money pursuing the idea. The technology is appealing because orbital solar arrays represent a potentially unlimited renewable energy supply. In space, solar panels can collect energy no matter the time of day, and by using microwaves to beam the power they produce, clouds aren’t a concern either. However, even if Japan successfully deploys a set of orbital solar arrays, the tech would still be closer to science fiction than fact. That’s because producing an array that can generate 1 gigawatt of power – or about the output of one nuclear reactor – would cost about $7 billion with currently available technologies.

ispace is done analyzing data from its failed Hakuto-R lunar landing, and it sounds like tricky terrain and a late change in the landing site are to blame. Apparently, Hakuto-R was able to complete the whole deceleration process in preparation of touching down on lunar soil. The spacecraft activated its descent sequence when it reached an altitude of around 100 kilometers (62 miles) and was able to slow down until it was only moving at a speed of less than 1 m/s. 

However, its software had mistakenly estimated its altitude to be zero when it was still hovering around 5 kilometers (3 miles) above the ground. In other words, it thought it had already landed when it hasn't yet, and it continued descending at a very slow speed near the surface until its propulsion system ran out of fuel. ispace wasn't able to establish contact with the spacecraft again, but it believes it went on a free fall and ultimately crashed on the moon.

That's the how, but what about the why? Well, the company thinks the most likely reason why Hakuto-R's software suffered from an altitude estimation issue was because it got confused. While it was flying to its landing site, it passed over a large cliff that was determined to be the rim of a crater. The spacecraft's onboard sensor got an altitude reading of 3 kilometers when it passed by the elevated terrain, and that was apparently larger than the estimated altitude value the Hakuto-R team set in advance. 

The spacecraft's software erroneously thought that the sensor reported an abnormal value, and it kept filtering out its altitude measurements afterward. ispace built the ability to reject abnormal altitude measurements into the lander as a safety measure in the event of a hardware issue with the sensor. However, it backfired for Mission 1 because simulations of the landing sequence failed to incorporate the lunar environment on the spacecraft's route. ispace made the decision to change Hakuto-R's landing site after its critical design review was already completed in 2021. 

The Hakuto-R Mission 1 was poised to become the first successful moon landing by a private company and the first Japanese lunar landing overall. While it didn't get to land on the moon, ispace will use the data from the mission to design preparatory landing sequences for Mission 2 and 3, which are scheduled for launch in 2024 and 2025, respectively. 

Virgin Galactic is finally on the cusp of launching its space tourism business. After a late start, the company has completed its last VSS Unity flight test before commercial service starts. The Unity 25 mission tested both technical functionality and the overall experience for astronauts, and reached space at roughly 12:26PM Eastern. The launch also made a little history: crew member Jamila Gilbert became the first female astronaut from New Mexico, according to Virgin. Gilbert and fellow crewmates Chris Huie, Luke Mays and Beth Moses are all Virgin employees.

The company has delayed this test multiple times. The final delay stemmed from difficulties upgrading the VMS Eve host aircraft, which ferries Unity to 50,000 feet. Virgin completed an unpowered test flight in late April, but its first crewed flight dates back to July 2021, when founder Richard Branson joined Moses, Sirisha Bandla and Colin Bennett for Unity 22. Unity 25 is Virgin's fifth spaceflight of any kind.

The successful test is important for Virgin. It has operated at a loss for years as it kept pushing back its space tourism plans, and lost over $500 million in 2022 alone. While the company hasn't said when it expects to fly paying customers, it needs those passengers' $450,000 tickets to help recoup its investment. Now, it's more a matter of firming up details than overcoming technological hurdles.

Virgin trails Blue Origin, which is already launching civilians into space. It's closer to passenger spaceflights than SpaceX, though. While Elon Musk's outfit announced its lunar tourism plans years ago, it has yet to send a Starship rocket into space with crew aboard. Not that SpaceX is necessarily concerned. Virgin is focused on less ambitious (if also less expensive) suborbital flights where Starship will be used for both tourists' lunar orbits and NASA's Moon landings.

Once-successful Virgin Orbit has been sold for parts at auction after the company declared bankruptcy in April. In a $16.1 million deal, Rocket Lab USA, a small satellite launch provider and aerospace manufacturer, bought Virgin Orbit's 144,000 square foot Long Beach headquarters and a variety of on-site machinery and equipment.

Rocket Lab USA is currently developing Neutron, a larger launch vehicle, from its headquarters, conveniently also located in Long Beach. In a statement about the purchase, Peter Beck, Rocket Lab's CEO and founder, said adding Virgin Orbit's lease "provides co-located engineering, manufacturing and test capabilities for our Neutron team."

The now-defunct Virgin Orbit started in 2017 as an off-shoot of Virgin Galactic, billionaire Richard Branson's space tourism venture. Its goal was to use a modified Boeing 747 aircraft, known as Cosmic Girl, to deploy small satellites into low Earth orbit, but only four of its six flights since its first in 2020 have been successful. The company attempted to save money through methods like going public in 2021 and, most recently, furloughing its 750 or so employees. However, they weren't enough, and the company reported a $191.2 million net loss for 2022. In April, Virgin Orbit officially declared bankruptcy and laid off most of its employees.

In total, Virgin Orbit has earned just over $36 million from bankruptcy sales, CNBC reported. Cosmic Girl sold for $17 million to Stratolaunch, creator of the world's largest plane. A small satellite transport business, Launcher, paid an additional $2.7 million for Virgin Orbit's launch site in the Mojave Desert — about a six-hour drive from their south Los Angeles headquarters. Launcher is owned by Vast, a company attempting to launch the first private space station.

While SpaceX completed the first fully integrated flight test for its Starship vehicle in April, the event wasn't exactly a complete success. The company blew up the spacecraft on the launch pad due to a separation failure, and that caused debris to shoot out across hundreds of acres of land that contained sensitive habitats. It also started a 3.5-acre fire on state park land. In response, environmental and wildlife nonprofit groups filed a lawsuit against the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), accusing the agency of failing to assess the Starship program's environmental impact around SpaceX's Texas launch site in Boca Chica. And now, SpaceX has filed a motion in court, requesting to be allowed to join the agency as a defendant. 

If you'll recall, the groups suing the FAA claimed that the agency had violated the National Environment Policy Act when it allowed SpaceX to launch its super heavy-lift vehicle without conducting an environmental impact statement (EIS) assessment. The FAA did conduct an environmental review of SpaceX's launch site and asked SpaceX to make more than 75 changes, but it didn't push through with an EIS assessment, which is a much more involved and in-depth process that could take years to finish. 

In its motion, SpaceX detailed the lawsuit's potential impact on the company. The plaintiffs, after all, are requesting for its launch license to be revoked and for the FAA to push through with an EIS assessment. SpaceX said "further licensing of the Starship/Super Heavy Program could be significantly delayed" by the lawsuit, which could also damage "substantial national interest." SpaceX has existing contracts with NASA and the military, and a Starship variant is expected to take Americans to the moon. 

The company also argued that the FAA "does not adequately represent [its] interests," so it has to step in and defend itself. According to the CNBC, the plaintiffs aren't opposed to SpaceX joining the fray, as it is "standard and expected for the applicant to intervene in a case where their permit is at issue." 

During a subscriber-only Twitter chat over the weekend, company chief Elon Musk reportedly said regarding the explosion: "To the best of our knowledge there has not been any meaningful damage to the environment that we're aware of." SpaceX has been preparing for more tests before Starship's next launch attempt and recently rolled out the vehicle's latest prototype to a suborbital pad at Starbase in Texas for an upcoming static fire test.

In less than two hours, private space firm Axiom Space is set to launch its second all-civilian flight. At approximately 5:37PM ET, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will attempt to carry the four-person crew, including former NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson, to the International Space Station. You can watch the mission as it unfolds from the Kennedy Space Center starting at 5PM ET. NASA will stream the launch on its website and YouTube channel. You can also watch the flight on Axiom Space’s website and right here.

Ax-2 is the follow up to Axiom Space’s first private space flight, which successfully carried a crew of civilian astronauts to the ISS last year. In addition to Whitson, the crew of Axiom Mission 2 is made up of entrepreneur John Shoffner and Saudi astronauts Ali AlQarni and Rayyanah Barnawi. After the Ax-2 team arrives at the ISS early Monday morning, they will spend the next eight days assisting the space station's crew with a handful of experiments. Axiom Space plans to fly another mission to the ISS later this year.

NASA has picked the company that will handle the third crewed Artemis Moon landing. Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin will build the landing system for Artemis V, which is currently set to launch in September 2029. While they didn't mention the choice of vehicle, the company is already working on a Blue Moon lander. Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Draper are among those involved in the NASA project.

An Orion capsule flight will take four astronauts to the Moon, where two of the crew members will use a Blue Origin lander docked to the Gateway space station to touch down at the lunar south pole. They'll spend a week conducting moonwalks, rover operations and science experiments while the other astronauts expand and take care of the Gateway.

NASA has already chosen SpaceX's Starship for the first (Artemis III) and second (Artemis IV) human landings. The agency said it would accept proposals for a second lander last year to both provide a backup and foster competition. Blue Origin made its bid for another lunar contract last December. The company objected to SpaceX's win and sued NASA for allegedly ignoring safety concerns when awarding the contract, but a federal court dismissed the claims.

The decision is a coup for Blue Origin. While it already has a NASA contract for a Mars science mission and financial support for its Orbital Reef space station, it hasn't had success scoring a crewed trip to the Moon. This also highlights NASA's increasing reliance on privately developed technology for its missions beyond Earth orbit, such as Axiom Space's Artemis suits. Like it or not, public-private alliances like these will define American space exploration for a while.

Astronomers have found a planet they believe is blanketed by active volcanoes. In a study published Tuesday in the journal Nature, a multi-national team of scientists said they discovered an Earth-sized exoplanet they believe may have water on part of its surface. The boringly named LP 791-18 d (sadly, no one thought to call it Mustafar) is located about 90 light-years from Earth in the Crater constellation. LP 791-18 d orbits a red dwarf it is tidally locked to, meaning the planet doesn’t have a day and night cycle like Earth. Instead, one part of LP 791-18 d is constantly scorched by sunlight, while the other is always in darkness.

“The day side would probably be too hot for liquid water to exist on the surface. But the amount of volcanic activity we suspect occurs all over the planet could sustain an atmosphere, which may allow water to condense on the night side,” Björn Benneke, one of the astronomers who studied the planet, told NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

The LP 791-18 system contains at least two other planets, called LP 791-18 b and c. The latter is two-and-a-half times larger than Earth and more than seven times its mass. It also affects the orbit of LP 791-18 d, making it travel along an elliptical path around the system’s sun. That path means LP 791-18 d is deformed every time it completes an orbit. “These deformations can create enough internal friction to substantially heat the planet’s interior and produce volcanic activity at its surface,” according to NASA.

“A big question in astrobiology, the field that broadly studies the origins of life on Earth and beyond, is if tectonic or volcanic activity is necessary for life,” study co-author Jessie Christiansen said. “In addition to potentially providing an atmosphere, these processes could churn up materials that would otherwise sink down and get trapped in the crust, including those we think are important for life, like carbon.”

NASA, ESA and CSA already plan to turn the James Webb Space Telescope’s infrared imaging instruments on LP 791-18 c. The team that discovered LP 791-18 d thinks the exoplanet would make for an “exceptional candidate for atmospheric studies by the mission.” Notably, the retired Spitzer Space Telescope helped spot LP 791-18 d before NASA decommissioned it in 2020. This week, the US Space Force awarded a $250,000 grant to explore the feasibility of bringing the telescope out of retirement.

NASA has pulled the plug on its Lunar Flashlight project, which was designed to look for sources of ice on our nearest neighbor. The agency spent the last few months trying, and failing, to get the craft to generate the necessary amount of thrust to get the small satellite to its intended destination. Officials say that the issue was likely caused by debris buildup in the fuel lines, which prevented the CubeSat from working to its full potential. 

The “briefcase sized” Lunar Flashlight first launched in December, and was developed by students at Georgia Tech. Once deployed, it was expected to start a four-month journey to the moon, after which point it would look for surface water ice at the moon’s perpetually-dark south pole. Unfortunately, despite a months-long effort to remedy the issue, the craft will proceed past Earth and then fly into the orbit, but hopefully not too close to, the sun.

NASA is choosing to take a glass half-full approach to the failure, pointing to the success of many of the project’s components. Barbara Cohen, principal investigator at the Goddard Space Flight Center, said that while it’s disappointing, the mission proved the efficacy of several tools first used on the satellite. And that researchers "collected a lot of in-flight performance data on the instrument that will be incredibly valuable to future iterations."