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134-517: Commercial Lunar Payload Services ( CLPS ) is a NASA program to hire companies to send small robotic landers and rovers to the Moon . Most landing sites are near the lunar south pole where they will scout for lunar resources , test in situ resource utilization (ISRU) concepts, and perform lunar science to support the Artemis lunar program . CLPS is intended to buy end-to-end payload services between Earth and

268-546: A CLPS contract to Firefly Aerospace for a mission to deliver a suite of 10 science investigations and technology demonstrations to the Moon in 2023. On July 21, 2022, NASA announced that it had awarded a CLPS contract to Draper Laboratories. On August 29, 2024 NASA announced that it awarded another CLPS task order to Intuitive Machines. The six payloads include four from NASA, one from the European Space Agency and one from

402-651: A commercial lander on the Moon." In December 2015, United Launch Alliance (ULA) were planning to upgrade the XEUS's main body from a Centaur Upper Stage to the Advanced Cryogenic Evolved Stage (ACES) which they were developing, significantly increasing the payload. Masten Space intended to incorporate experience from developing the XL family of cargo landers into the XEUS family of landers. In August 2016, ULA's president and CEO said ULA intended to human rate both

536-511: A decade of reliance on the Russians. In 2019, NASA announced the Artemis program , intending to return to the Moon and establish a permanent human presence. This was paired with the Artemis Accords with partner nations to establish rules of behavior and norms of space commercialization on the Moon. In 2023, NASA established the Moon to Mars Program office. The office is designed to oversee

670-538: A list of awards, to Astrobotic , of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, $ 79.5 million; Intuitive Machines , of Houston, Texas, $ 77 million; and OrbitBeyond , $ 97 million; to launch their Moon landers. However, Orbit Beyond dropped out in July 2019 (with NASA acknowledging termination of contract on July 29, 2019), but remained able to bid on future missions. In January 2024, NASA reported the initial award to Astrobotic had grown to $ 108 million, to carry five NASA science payloads instead of

804-629: A month after the Soviet Yuri Gagarin became the first human in space, executing a full orbital spaceflight. NASA's first orbital spaceflight was conducted by John Glenn on February 20, 1962, in the Friendship 7 , making three full orbits before reentering. Glenn had to fly parts of his final two orbits manually due to an autopilot malfunction. The sixth and final Mercury mission was flown by Gordon Cooper in May 1963, performing 22 orbits over 34 hours in

938-499: A must for missions in the lunar far side. Many companies are involved in the mission with Draper being the prime contractor, including ispace . On September 29, 2023, ispace announced that the SERIES-2 lander had been comprehensively redesigned and renamed as APEX 1.0, causing the mission to be delayed to 2026. Masten Space Systems filed for bankruptcy in July 2022, with nearly all their assets sold to Astrobotic Technology . This led to

1072-570: A permanently manned space station and to do it within a decade. In 1985, NASA proposed the Space Station Freedom , which both the agency and President Reagan intended to be an international program. While this would add legitimacy to the program, there were concerns within NASA that the international component would dilute its authority within the project, having never been willing to work with domestic or international partners as true equals. There

1206-516: A polar region for signs of water ice or lunar pits for entrances to Moon caves. The rover would operate mostly autonomously for up to one week. On November 18, 2019, NASA added five contractors to the group of companies eligible to bid to deliver large payloads to the lunar surface under the CLPS program: Blue Origin , Ceres Robotics , Sierra Nevada Corporation , SpaceX , and Tyvak Nano-Satellite Systems . On April 8, 2020, NASA announced it had awarded

1340-628: A possible source of antimatter at the center of the Milky Way and observing that the majority of gamma-ray bursts occur outside of the Milky Way galaxy. The Chandra X-ray Observatory was launched from the Columbia on STS-93 in 1999, observing black holes, quasars , supernova , and dark matter . It provided critical observations on the Sagittarius A* black hole at the center of the Milky Way galaxy and

1474-437: A robotic return to the Moon, sample return , resource prospecting in the south polar region , and promote innovation and growth of related commercial industries. The payload development program is called Development and Advancement of Lunar Instrumentation (DALI), and the payload goals are exploration, in situ resource utilization ( ISRU ), and lunar science. The first instruments were expected to be selected by summer 2019, and

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1608-510: A service by the CLPS vendor. Lunar-VISE will study a rare form of lunar volcanism. Lunar-VISE will be sent to one of the Gruithuisen Domes: Mons Gruithuisen Gamma or Mons Gruithuisen Delta . The Lunar Explorer Instrument for space biology Applications (LEIA) science suite, is a small CubeSat-based device. LEIA will provide biological research on the Moon – which cannot be simulated or replicated with high fidelity on

1742-532: A space station since the agency was created. In 1973, following the end of the Apollo lunar missions, NASA launched its first space station, Skylab , on the final launch of the Saturn   V. Skylab reused a significant amount of Apollo and Saturn hardware, with a repurposed Saturn   V third stage serving as the primary module for the space station. Damage to Skylab during its launch required spacewalks to be performed by

1876-544: A technology demonstration unit was completed in September 2016. The hot-fire test campaign concluded with the demonstration of six successful engine starts. As of 2017 , a second development unit containing enhancements was being developed for NASA under the Tipping Point program with the aim of being flight qualified. Cutlass was a 25,000 pounds-force (110 kN) methane/liquid oxygen rocket engine Masten Space Systems

2010-507: A test flight in April 2017. It flew 75 times. The Xodiac was a VTVL rocket introduced in 2016. It featured pressure-fed LOX / IPA propellant, and a regeneratively cooled engine. Flights could simulate landing on the Moon or Mars. Video of Xodiac performing in-flight air flow tests Tuft strings. Xogdor was a VTVL vehicle that Masten planned to introduce in 2023. As the sixth VTVL testbed developed at Masten, Xogdor would have improved upon

2144-551: Is an independent agency of the U.S. federal government responsible for the civil space program , aeronautics research, and space research. Established in 1958 , it succeeded the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) to give the U.S. space development effort a distinct civilian orientation, emphasizing peaceful applications in space science . It has since led most of America's space exploration programs, including Project Mercury , Project Gemini ,

2278-583: The Faith 7 . The Mercury Program was wildly recognized as a resounding success, achieving its objectives to orbit a human in space, develop tracking and control systems, and identify other issues associated with human spaceflight. While much of NASA's attention turned to space, it did not put aside its aeronautics mission. Early aeronautics research attempted to build upon the X-1's supersonic flight to build an aircraft capable of hypersonic flight . The North American X-15

2412-720: The Army Ballistic Missile Agency would launch Explorer 1 , America's first satellite, on February 1, 1958. The Eisenhower Administration decided to split the United States' military and civil spaceflight programs, which were organized together under the Defense Department 's Advanced Research Projects Agency . NASA was established on July 29, 1958, with the signing of the National Aeronautics and Space Act and it began operations on October 1, 1958. As

2546-762: The Bell X-1 in a joint program with the U.S. Air Force . NACA's interest in space grew out of its rocketry program at the Pilotless Aircraft Research Division. The Soviet Union's launch of Sputnik 1 ushered in the Space Age and kicked off the Space Race . Despite NACA's early rocketry program, the responsibility for launching the first American satellite fell to the Naval Research Laboratory 's Project Vanguard , whose operational issues ensured

2680-658: The Big Bang . The James Webb Space Telescope , named after the NASA administrator who lead the Apollo program, is an infrared observatory launched in 2021. The James Webb Space Telescope is a direct successor to the Hubble Space Telescope, intended to observe the formation of the first galaxies. Other space telescopes include the Kepler space telescope , launched in 2009 to identify planets orbiting extrasolar stars that may be Terran and possibly harbor life. The first exoplanet that

2814-660: The Earth Observing System ; advancing heliophysics through the efforts of the Science Mission Directorate 's Heliophysics Research Program; exploring bodies throughout the Solar System with advanced robotic spacecraft such as New Horizons and planetary rovers such as Perseverance ; and researching astrophysics topics, such as the Big Bang , through the James Webb Space Telescope ,

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2948-753: The Environmental Science Services Administration on a series of weather satellites and the agency launched its experimental Applications Technology Satellites into geosynchronous orbit. NASA's first dedicated Earth observation satellite, Landsat , was launched in 1972. This led to NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration jointly developing the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite and discovering Ozone depletion . NASA had been pursuing spaceplane development since

3082-676: The Europa and observed that the moon may hold ice or liquid water. A joint NASA- European Space Agency - Italian Space Agency mission, Cassini–Huygens , was sent to Saturn 's moon Titan , which, along with Mars and Europa, are the only celestial bodies in the Solar System suspected of being capable of harboring life. Cassini discovered three new moons of Saturn and the Huygens probe entered Titan's atmosphere. The mission discovered evidence of liquid hydrocarbon lakes on Titan and subsurface water oceans on

3216-742: The Johnson Space Center as the lead center for the design, development, and manufacturing of the Space Shuttle orbiter , while the Marshall Space Flight Center would lead the development of the launch system. NASA's series of lifting body aircraft, culminating in the joint NASA-U.S. Air Force Martin Marietta X-24 , directly informed the development of the Space Shuttle and future hypersonic flight aircraft. Official development of

3350-602: The Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics at the University of Colorado Boulder. Notes: The CLPS contracts for landers and lander missions do not include the payloads themselves. The payloads are developed under separate contracts either at NASA facilities or in commercial facilities. The CLPS landers provide landing, support services, and sample return as specified in each individual contract. The first batch of science payloads are being developed in NASA facilities, due to

3484-634: The Mars Global Surveyor orbiter and Mars Pathfinder , deploying the first Mars rover, Sojourner . During the early 2000s, the 2001 Mars Odyssey orbiter reached the planet and in 2004 the Sprit and Opportunity rovers landed on the Red Planet. This was followed in 2005 by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and 2007 Phoenix Mars lander. The 2012 landing of Curiosity discovered that

3618-455: The NASA on 30 April 2014. Masten was accepted to make a bid for NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program on 29 November 2018. Masten proposed to NASA that Masten would develop a lunar lander called XL-1 to take scientific payload to the Moon. NASA accepted this proposal to be assessed, whether it would be developed or not, as part of the CLPS program. NASA would later choose which of

3752-589: The Orbiting Geophysical Observatory in the 1960s and 1970s to look down at Earth and observe its interactions with the Sun. The Uhuru satellite was the first dedicated x-ray telescope, mapping 85% of the sky and discovering a large number of black holes . Launched in the 1990s and early 2000s, the Great Observatories program are among NASA's most powerful telescopes. The Hubble Space Telescope

3886-568: The STS-1 mission, designed to serve as a flight test for the new spaceplane. NASA intended for the Space Shuttle to replace expendable launch systems like the Air Force's Atlas , Delta , and Titan and the European Space Agency 's Ariane . The Space Shuttle's Spacelab payload, developed by the European Space Agency, increased the scientific capabilities of shuttle missions over anything NASA

4020-616: The STS-60 mission in 1994 and the Discovery rendezvoused, but did not dock with, the Russian Mir in the STS-63 mission. This was followed by Atlantis' STS-71 mission where it accomplished the initial intended mission for the Space Shuttle, docking with a space station and transferring supplies and personnel. The Shuttle- Mir program would continue until 1998, when a series of orbital accidents on

4154-471: The Space Race when the Soviet Union gave up its lunar ambitions. As the first human to step on the surface of the Moon, Neil Armstrong uttered the now famous words: That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind. NASA would conduct six total lunar landings as part of the Apollo program, with Apollo   17 concluding the program in 1972. Wernher von Braun had advocated for NASA to develop

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4288-609: The Space Shuttle began in 1972, with Rockwell International contracted to design the orbiter and engines, Martin Marietta for the external fuel tank , and Morton Thiokol for the solid rocket boosters . NASA acquired six orbiters: the Enterprise , Columbia , Challenger , Discovery , Atlantis , and Endeavour The Space Shuttle program also allowed NASA to make major changes to its Astronaut Corps . While almost all previous astronauts were Air Force or Naval test pilots,

4422-602: The United States Congress created the Aviation Section of the U.S. Army Signal Corps in 1914 and established NACA in 1915 to foster aeronautical research and development. Over the next forty years, NACA would conduct aeronautical research in support of the U.S. Air Force , U.S. Army , U.S. Navy , and the civil aviation sector. After the end of World War II , NACA became interested in the possibilities of guided missiles and supersonic aircraft, developing and testing

4556-405: The inner planets . Despite these successes, Congress was unwilling to fund further interplanetary missions and NASA Administrator James Webb suspended all future interplanetary probes to focus resources on the Apollo program. Following the conclusion of the Apollo program, NASA resumed launching interplanetary probes and expanded its space science program. The first planet tagged for exploration

4690-516: The 1960s, blending the administration's dual aeronautics and space missions. NASA viewed a spaceplane as part of a larger program, providing routine and economical logistical support to a space station in Earth orbit that would be used as a hub for lunar and Mars missions. A reusable launch vehicle would then have ended the need for expensive and expendable boosters like the Saturn V . In 1969, NASA designated

4824-690: The 1968–1972 Apollo Moon landing missions, the Skylab space station, and the Space Shuttle . Currently, NASA supports the International Space Station (ISS) along with the Commercial Crew Program , and oversees the development of the Orion spacecraft and the Space Launch System for the lunar Artemis program . NASA's science division is focused on better understanding Earth through

4958-458: The 2023–2024 timeframe. In June 2022, NASA announced the selection of two new payloads from its Payloads and Research Investigations on the Surface of the Moon (PRISM) call for proposals. The Lunar Vulkan Imaging and Spectroscopy Explorer (Lunar-VISE) investigation is a suite of five instruments, two of which will be mounted on a stationary lander and three mounted on a mobile rover to be provided as

5092-655: The 44 commercial companies that contracted with NASA to deploy their satellites to return to expendable launch vehicles. When the Space Shuttle returned to flight with the STS-26 mission, it had undergone significant modifications to improve its reliability and safety. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Russian Federation and United States initiated the Shuttle- Mir program . The first Russian cosmonaut flew on

5226-611: The Air Force as the military space lead. Plans for human spaceflight began in the U.S. Armed Forces prior to NASA's creation. The Air Force's Man in Space Soonest project formed in 1956, coupled with the Army's Project Adam, served as the foundation for Project Mercury . NASA established the Space Task Group to manage the program, which would conduct crewed sub-orbital flights with the Army's Redstone rockets and orbital flights with

5360-496: The Air Force's Atlas launch vehicles. While NASA intended for its first astronauts to be civilians, President Eisenhower directed that they be selected from the military. The Mercury 7 astronauts included three Air Force pilots, three Navy aviators, and one Marine Corps pilot. On May 5, 1961, Alan Shepard became the first American to enter space, performing a suborbital spaceflight in the Freedom 7 . This flight occurred less than

5494-410: The Apollo program. Despite attacks on the goal of landing astronauts on the Moon from the former president Dwight Eisenhower and 1964 presidential candidate Barry Goldwater , President Kennedy was able to protect NASA's growing budget, of which 50% went directly to human spaceflight and it was later estimated that, at its height, 5% of Americans worked on some aspect of the Apollo program. Mirroring

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5628-660: The Army Ballistic Missile Agency's original Saturn   I . The Apollo spacecraft was designed and built by North American Aviation , while the Apollo Lunar Module was designed and built by Grumman . To develop the spaceflight skills and equipment required for a lunar mission, NASA initiated Project Gemini . Using a modified Air Force Titan   II launch vehicle, the Gemini capsule could hold two astronauts for flights of over two weeks. Gemini pioneered

5762-701: The Autonomous Descent and Ascent Powered-flight Testbed (ADAPT) experimental technologies, for the Mars 2020 mission landing. As of 7 March 2017 , Xombie had flown 224 times. Masten's Xoie (model XA-0.1E) won the US$ 1,000,000 Level Two prize of the Lunar Lander Challenge on October 30, 2009. They beat Armadillo Aerospace by just a bit more than 24 inches (610 mm) of total landing accuracy, with an average accuracy of about 7.5 inches (190 mm) on

5896-491: The Centaur, referred to Xeus as an abbreviation for eXperimental Enhanced Upper Stage . Further details of the proposed design were given in the paper "Experimental Enhanced Upper Stage (XEUS): An affordable large lander system". Each of the Katanas used on a Xeus lander were likely to produce 3,500 pounds-force (16 kN) when performing a horizontal touchdown. In December 2012, Masten demonstrated their all-aluminum 2,800 pounds-force (12 kN) regeneratively-cooled engine,

6030-426: The Department of Defense's program management concept using redundant systems in building the first intercontinental ballistic missiles, NASA requested the Air Force assign Major General Samuel C. Phillips to the space agency where he would serve as the director of the Apollo program. Development of the Saturn   V rocket was led by Wernher von Braun and his team at the Marshall Space Flight Center , derived from

6164-511: The Earth or International Space Station – by delivering the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae to the lunar surface and studying its response to radiation and lunar gravity. Saccharomyces cerevisiae serves as a model organism used to understand DNA damage response and repair. Orbit Beyond returned their task order (cancelling their mission) two months after award in 2019. That mission is not listed below. NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration ( NASA / ˈ n æ s ə / )

6298-527: The KA6A. The talk in this video announced the Xeus and also showed NASA's Space Exploration Vehicle rover with its two astronauts as a possible payload for the XEUS. On 30 April 2014, the NASA announced that Masten Space Systems was one of the three companies selected for the Lunar CATALYST initiative. NASA signed an unfunded Space Act Agreement (SAA) with Masten in September 2014. The SAA lasts until August 2017, has 22 milestones and calls for "End-to-end demonstration of hardware and software that enables

6432-439: The Keplar space telescope confirmed was Kepler-22b , orbiting within the habitable zone of its star. NASA also launched a number of different satellites to study Earth, such as Television Infrared Observation Satellite (TIROS) in 1960, which was the first weather satellite. NASA and the United States Weather Bureau cooperated on future TIROS and the second generation Nimbus program of weather satellites. It also worked with

6566-489: The Level One competition of the Lunar Lander Challenge on 7 October 2009 with an average landing accuracy of 16 centimetres (6.3 in). The primary goal of these two airframes was to demonstrate stable, controlled flight using a GN&C system developed in-house at Masten. XA-0.1B originally featured four engines with 1,000 pounds-force (4 kN) thrust, but was converted in Spring 2009 to be powered by one engine of 750 pounds-force (3 kN) thrust. By October 2009,

6700-448: The Martian interior. The 2021 Perseverance rover carried the first extraplanetary aircraft, a helicopter named Ingenuity . NASA also launched missions to Mercury in 2004, with the MESSENGER probe demonstrating as the first use of a solar sail . NASA also launched probes to the outer Solar System starting in the 1960s. Pioneer 10 was the first probe to the outer planets, flying by Jupiter , while Pioneer 11 provided

6834-402: The Moon and going to Mars. Embracing this approach, NASA's Commercial Crew Program started by contracting cargo delivery to the International Space Station and flew its first operational contracted mission on SpaceX Crew-1 . This marked the first time since the retirement of the Space Shuttle that NASA was able to launch its own astronauts on an American spacecraft from the United States, ending

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6968-404: The Moon and returning him safely to Earth by the end of the 1960s and installed James E. Webb as NASA administrator to achieve this goal. On May   25, 1961, President Kennedy openly declared this goal in his "Urgent National Needs" speech to the United States Congress, declaring: I believe this Nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on

7102-427: The Moon and returning him safely to Earth. No single space project in this period will be more impressive to mankind, or more important for the long-range exploration of space; and none will be so difficult or expensive to accomplish. Kennedy gave his " We choose to go to the Moon " speech the next year, on September   12, 1962 at Rice University , where he addressed the nation hoping to reinforce public support for

7236-415: The Moon continued. As of March 2017 , a 1,000 pounds-force (4.4 kN) thrust version of Machete for the terrestrial testbed of the lander, dubbed XL-1T, was being manufactured. In October 2017, NASA extended the Lunar CATALYST agreement for 2 years. On 29 November 2018, it was announced that Masten was eligible to bid at a Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) contract by NASA . Should

7370-413: The Moon with up to 14 tonnes (revised to 10 tonnes) payload when using the expendable version or 5 tonnes payload when using the reusable version. The damaged Centaur on the demonstrator Xeus limited it to Earth flights. The production versions would have to have been manufacturing fault free and certified for space operations. Human rating might also have been needed. United Launch Alliance , supplier of

7504-475: The Moon, and operation for at least 12 days. The payloads had predominantly been developed through two recent NASA Provided Lunar Payloads (NPLP) and Lunar Surface Instrument and Technology Payloads (LSITP) solicitations. On 26 August 2020, Masten announced that the first XL-1 mission, Masten Mission One, would be launched by SpaceX , although it was not at the time publicly known which SpaceX launch vehicle it would fly on. On 23 June 2021, Masten announced that

7638-409: The Moon, and payload operations. On July 21, 2022, NASA announced that it had awarded a CLPS contract (8th, not counting OrbitBeyond) worth $ 73 million to a team led by the company Draper. The mission targeted Schrödinger Basin on the farside of the Moon, planned for 2025. The mission lander, called SERIES-2 by Draper, would deliver to Schrödinger Basin three experiments to collect seismic data, measure

7772-405: The Moon. Masten Mission One, the first XL-1 lander, was scheduled for launch in November 2023. Masten Space Systems filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on July 28, 2022. The company's assets were purchased for US$ 4.5 million by Astrobotic Technology on September 8, 2022, who continues to operate the company's test vehicles. Masten's Xombie (model XA-0.1B) won the US$ 150,000 second prize in

7906-403: The NASA and Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge X Prize in 2009, winning the level one second prize of US$ 150,000 and the level two first prize of US$ 1,000,000. On 2 November 2009, it was announced that Masten Space Systems had won first place in the level two category, with Armadillo Aerospace coming in second. Masten Space Systems was selected for the Lunar CATALYST initiative of

8040-409: The Russians be included. In 1993, the Clinton Administration announced that the Space Station Freedom would become the International Space Station in an agreement with the Russian Federation. This allowed the Russians to maintain their space program through an infusion of American currency to maintain their status as one of the two premier space programs. While the United States built and launched

8174-507: The Russians to fly to the International Space Station for four days, despite the opposition of NASA to the idea. Advocates of this new commercial approach for NASA included former astronaut Buzz Aldrin , who remarked that it would return NASA to its roots as a research and development agency, with commercial entities actually operating the space systems. Having corporations take over orbital operations would also allow NASA to focus all its efforts on deep space exploration and returning humans to

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8308-422: The Solar System. Mars has long been a planet of intense fascination for NASA, being suspected of potentially having harbored life. Mariner 5 was the first NASA spacecraft to flyby Mars, followed by Mariner 6 and Mariner 7 . Mariner 9 was the first orbital mission to Mars. Launched in 1975, Viking program consisted of two landings on Mars in 1976. Follow-on missions would not be launched until 1996, with

8442-404: The Space Shuttle Columbia disaster in 2003, NASA was forced to rely on Russian Soyuz launches for its astronauts and the 2011 retirement of the Space Shuttle accelerated the station's completion. In the 1980s, right after the first flight of the Space Shuttle, NASA started a joint program with the Department of Defense to develop the Rockwell X-30 National Aerospace Plane. NASA realized that

8576-418: The Space Shuttle allowed NASA to begin recruiting more non-military scientific and technical experts. A prime example is Sally Ride , who became the first American woman to fly in space on STS-7 . This new astronaut selection process also allowed NASA to accept exchange astronauts from U.S. allies and partners for the first time. The first Space Shuttle flight occurred in 1981, when the Columbia launched on

8710-443: The Space Shuttle and expand space exploration beyond low Earth orbit. Constellation was intended to use a significant amount of former Space Shuttle equipment and return astronauts to the Moon. This program was canceled by the Obama Administration . Former astronauts Neil Armstrong , Gene Cernan , and Jim Lovell sent a letter to President Barack Obama to warn him that if the United States did not get new human spaceflight ability,

8844-478: The Space Shuttle began flying, selling it as an orbital laboratory, repair station, and a jumping off point for lunar and Mars missions. NASA found a strong advocate in President Ronald Reagan , who declared in a 1984 speech: America has always been greatest when we dared to be great. We can reach for greatness again. We can follow our dreams to distant stars, living and working in space for peaceful, economic, and scientific gain. Tonight I am directing NASA to develop

8978-444: The Space Shuttle, while a massive technological accomplishment, would not be able to live up to all its promises. Designed to be a single-stage-to-orbit spaceplane, the X-30 had both civil and military applications. With the end of the Cold War , the X-30 was canceled in 1992 before reaching flight status. Following the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster in 2003, President Bush started the Constellation program to smoothly replace

9112-483: The Space Shuttle. Due to technical challenges, the spacecraft was cancelled in 2001. Despite this, it was the first time a commercial space company directly expended a significant amount of its resources into spacecraft development. The advent of space tourism also forced NASA to challenge its assumption that only governments would have people in space. The first space tourist was Dennis Tito , an American investment manager and former aerospace engineer who contracted with

9246-507: The Space Station Freedom was controversial, with much of the debate centering on cost. Several redesigns to reduce cost were conducted in the early 1990s, stripping away much of its functions. Despite calls for Congress to terminate the program, it continued, in large part because by 1992 it had created 75,000 jobs across 39 states. By 1993, President Bill Clinton attempted to significantly reduce NASA's budget and directed costs be significantly reduced, aerospace industry jobs were not lost, and

9380-553: The Surface of the Moon (PRISM), Development and Advancement of Lunar Instrumentation (DALI), Lunar Terrain Vehicle (LTV) Instruments and Artemis Surface Instruments. LDEP aspires to conduct at least two CLPS missions per year. Delivery missions for these payloads were solicited in batches. The first twelve NASA payloads and experiments were announced on February 21, 2019, and will fly on separate missions. As of February 2021 NASA has awarded contracts for four CLPS lander missions to support these payloads. On July 1, 2019, NASA announced

9514-399: The U.S. risked become a second or third-rate space power. As early as the Reagan Administration, there had been calls for NASA to expand private sector involvement in space exploration rather than do it all in-house. In the 1990s, NASA and Lockheed Martin entered into an agreement to develop the Lockheed Martin X-33 demonstrator of the VentureStar spaceplane, which was intended to replace

9648-522: The US's premier aeronautics agency, NACA formed the core of NASA's new structure by reassigning 8,000 employees and three major research laboratories. NASA also proceeded to absorb the Naval Research Laboratory's Project Vanguard, the Army's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), and the Army Ballistic Missile Agency under Wernher von Braun . This left NASA firmly as the United States' civil space lead and

9782-570: The Vulcan and ACES. XEUS was cancelled in July 2018. The XL-1 was a small cargo lunar lander that Masten was developing as part of the Lunar CATALYST program (SAAM ID 18250). When powered by MXP-351 the XL-1 was designed to land 100 kilograms (220 lb) payloads onto the surface of the Moon. As of August 2017, Masten Space expected the XL-1 to have four main engines which were being prototyped on

9916-528: The XL-1, the XL-1T was under development in partnership with NASA CATALYST (SAAM ID 18250). The XL-1T was expected to have a dry mass of 588.93 kg and a wet mass of 1270.68 kg which was less than the XL-1. The vehicle had 4 off Machete 4400 N main engines able to throttle between 25% and 100% (4:1). The propellant was MPX-351. Yaw and pitch were controlled by differential throttling. There were 4 off 22 N ACS thrusters to control roll. Many characteristics of

10050-428: The XL-1T and a wet mass of about 2,400 kilograms (5,300 lb). On 11 October 2016, Masten Space Tweeted a video showing the test firing of its new bi-propellant combination, internally called MXP-351. The test used an existing engine with an experimental injector, the first 'Machete', producing 225 pounds-force (1.00 kN) thrust. Development of their 3D printed regen lunar engine that would use MXP-351 to land on

10184-504: The XL-1T were deliberately made similar to the XL-1. These included multi-engine architecture, avionics, software, fuel, movement of inertia, slosh management, and mission design tools. Masten was awarded a US$ 3 million contract from DARPA to develop the XS-1 experimental spaceplane. Project ended as DARPA awarded the Phase 2 to Boeing. In addition to its line of vehicles, Masten Space Systems

10318-439: The all aluminium Katana KA6A Regen 2800 lbf engine's shake down test burning LOX/IPA ( Isopropyl alcohol ). Machete was the name for a family of throttleable rocket engine designs Masten Space Systems was developing to permit their XL-1 lunar lander to land on the Moon. The Machete rocket engines burned the nontoxic storable hypergolic propellant combination MXP-351. The first Machete had an experimental injector design that

10452-515: The approved prime contractors can bid. A Scope Of Work will be issued with each task order. The CLPS proposals are being evaluated against five Technical Accessibility Standards. NASA is assuming a cost of one million dollars per kilogram delivered to the lunar surface. (This figure may be revised after a lunar landing when the actual costs are available.) The companies selected are considered "main contractors" that can sub-contract projects to other companies of their choice. The first companies granted

10586-410: The bids made for CLPS program by the various companies eligible to bid for CLPS the agency would eventually fund for development. On 8 April 2020, it was announced that NASA had selected Masten's CLPS bid to be developed. NASA awarded Masten a $ 75.9 million contract to build, launch, land and operate their XL-1 Moon lander. The lander would take payload from NASA and other customers to the south pole of

10720-399: The cancellation of Masten's CLPS mission. On March 14, 2023, NASA awarded Firefly a $ 112 million task order (8th CLPS contract, not counting OrbitBeyond or Masten Space Systems) for a mission to the far side of the Moon using the second Blue Ghost lander, expected to launch in 2026. The competitive nature of the CLPS program is expected to reduce the cost of lunar exploration, accelerate

10854-407: The composition of the lunar surface, test precision landing technologies, and evaluate the radiation on the Moon, were being delivered under NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative as part of the agency's Artemis program . The US$ 75.9 million award included end-to-end services for delivery of the instruments, including payload integration, launch from Earth, landing on the surface of

10988-406: The contractors to provide all activities necessary to safely integrate, accommodate, transport, and operate NASA payloads, including launch vehicles, lunar lander spacecraft, lunar surface systems, Earth re-entry vehicles and associated resources. Eight missions have been contracted under the program (not counting one mission contract that was revoked after awarding and another mission contract that

11122-412: The engine to be used to provide a lower-cost reusable launch service for the growing CubeSat and smallsat launch market. The prototype engine took 1.5 months to construct and was made of aluminium. The engine consisted of 3 parts that were bolted together. The engine used an expander cycle and was planned to produce 35,000 pounds-force (160 kN) with a bell extension in vacuum. The development of

11256-420: The first close up view of the planet. Both probes became the first objects to leave the Solar System. The Voyager program launched in 1977, conducting flybys of Jupiter and Saturn , Neptune , and Uranus on a trajectory to leave the Solar System. The Galileo spacecraft, deployed from the Space Shuttle flight STS-34 , was the first spacecraft to orbit Jupiter, discovering evidence of subsurface oceans on

11390-510: The first crew to make it habitable and operational. Skylab hosted nine missions and was decommissioned in 1974 and deorbited in 1979, two years prior to the first launch of the Space Shuttle and any possibility of boosting its orbit. In 1975, the Apollo–Soyuz mission was the first ever international spaceflight and a major diplomatic accomplishment between the Cold War rivals, which also marked

11524-402: The first humans to see the Earth as a globe in space, the first to witness an Earthrise , and the first to see and manually photograph the far side of the Moon. The first lunar landing was conducted by Apollo   11. Commanded by Neil Armstrong with astronauts Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins , Apollo   11 was one of the most significant missions in NASA's history, marking the end of

11658-599: The flight opportunities were expected to start in 2021. Multiple contracts will be issued, and the early payloads will likely be small because of the limited capacity of the initial commercial landers. The first landers and rovers will be technology demonstrators on hardware such as precision landing/hazard avoidance, power generation ( solar and RTGs ), in situ resource utilization ( ISRU ), cryogenic fluid management, autonomous operations and sensing , and advanced avionics , mobility, mechanisms, and materials . This program requires that only US launch vehicles can launch

11792-465: The four Great Observatories , and associated programs. The Launch Services Program oversees launch operations for its uncrewed launches . NASA traces its roots to the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA). Despite being the birthplace of aviation, by 1914 the United States recognized that it was far behind Europe in aviation capability. Determined to regain American leadership in aviation,

11926-481: The fourth (after Astrobotic's, Intuitive Machines' and OrbitBeyond's awards) CLPS contract for Masten Space Systems . The contract, worth $ 75.9 million, was for Masten's XL-1 lunar lander to deliver payloads from NASA and other customers to the south pole of the Moon in late 2022. On June 11, 2020, NASA awarded Astrobotic Technology its second CLPS contract. The mission would be the first flight of Astrobotic's larger Griffin lander. Griffin weighs 450 kg. The award

12060-458: The group of companies who are eligible to bid to send large payloads to the surface of the Moon with the CLPS program. On April 8, 2020, NASA selected Masten Space Systems for a mission to deliver and operate eight payloads – with nine science and technology instruments – to the Moon's South Pole in 2022. Masten Space Systems filed for bankruptcy in July 2022; this led to the cancellation of Masten's CLPS mission. On February 4, 2021, NASA awarded

12194-413: The heat flow and electrical conductivity of the lunar subsurface and measure electromagnetic phenomena created by the interaction of the solar wind and plasma with the lunar surface. This mission would be the first CLPS mission to target the lunar far side, and aims to be the second landing (after China's Chang'e-4 ) to the Moon's far side. The mission would also develop and deploy two data relay satellites,

12328-519: The initial number of 14, and that the contract value for Intuitive Machines had increased to $ 118 million. On July 1, 2019, a $ 5.6 million contract was awarded to Astrobotic and its partner Carnegie Mellon University to develop MoonRanger , a 13 kg (29 lb) rover to carry payloads on the Moon for NASA's CLPS. Launch was envisioned for either 2021 or 2022. The rover would carry science payloads yet to be determined and developed by other providers, that would focus on scouting and creating 3D maps of

12462-451: The last flight of the Apollo capsule. Flown in 1975, a U.S. Apollo spacecraft docked with a Soviet Soyuz capsule. During the 1960s, NASA started its space science and interplanetary probe program. The Mariner program was its flagship program, launching probes to Venus , Mars , and Mercury in the 1960s. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory was the lead NASA center for robotic interplanetary exploration, making significant discoveries about

12596-414: The launch of Masten Mission One had been delayed to November 2023 due to COVID-19 pandemic related issues . The XL-1T was a (T)errestrial technology and process demonstrator for the XL-1 and XEUS. A terrestrial flying test-bed was being used since lack of vehicle access to lunar landers after launch would make Masten's incremental design and test development methodology difficult and very expensive. Like

12730-523: The lunar surface using fixed-price contracts . The program achieved the first landing on the Moon by a commercial company in history with the IM-1 mission in 2024. The program was extended to add support for large payloads starting after 2025. The CLPS program is run by NASA's Science Mission Directorate along with the Human Exploration and Operations and Space Technology Mission directorates. NASA expects

12864-504: The majority of the International Space Station, Russia, Canada, Japan, and the European Space Agency all contributed components. Despite NASA's insistence that costs would be kept at a budget of $ 17.4, they kept rising and NASA had to transfer funds from other programs to keep the International Space Station solvent. Ultimately, the total cost of the station was $ 150 billion, with the United States paying for two-thirds.Following

12998-609: The moon of Enceladus , which could harbor life. Finally launched in 2006, the New Horizons mission was the first spacecraft to visit Pluto and the Kuiper Belt . Beyond interplanetary probes, NASA has launched many space telescopes . Launched in the 1960s, the Orbiting Astronomical Observatory were NASA's first orbital telescopes, providing ultraviolet, gamma-ray, x-ray, and infrared observations. NASA launched

13132-508: The proposal be accepted by NASA to be built, the landing to Moon would be no earlier than 2021. On 8 April 2020, NASA selected Masten to deliver eight payloads – with nine science and technology instruments – to the South Pole of the Moon in 2022 with the XL-1 lander. Masten would also operate the payloads, helping to lay the foundation for human expeditions to the lunar surface beginning in 2024. The payloads, which included instruments to assess

13266-608: The radiation levels on Mars were equal to those on the International Space Station , greatly increasing the possibility of Human exploration, and observed the key chemical ingredients for life to occur. In 2013, the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution ( MAVEN ) mission observed the Martian upper atmosphere and space environment and in 2018, the Interior exploration using Seismic Investigations Geodesy, and Heat Transport ( InSight ) studied

13400-549: The regeneratively cooled isopropyl alcohol and liquid oxygen rocket engine was running at around 900 pounds-force (4 kN). XA-0.1B, nicknamed "Xombie", first flew free of tether 19 September 2009, and qualified for the Lunar Lander Challenge Level One second prize of $ 150,000 on 7 October 2009. In October 2016, NASA reported using Xombie to test the Landing Vision System (LVS), as part of

13534-403: The right to bid on CLPS contracts were chosen in 2018. On May 21, 2019, three companies were awarded lander contracts: Astrobotic Technology , Intuitive Machines , OrbitBeyond . On July 29, 2019, NASA announced that it had granted OrbitBeyond's request to be released from this specific contract, citing "internal corporate challenges." On November 18, 2019, NASA added five new contractors to

13668-502: The satellites were repaired and relaunched. Despite ushering in a new era of spaceflight, where NASA was contracting launch services to commercial companies, the Space Shuttle was criticized for not being as reusable and cost-effective as advertised. In 1986, Challenger disaster on the STS-51L mission resulted in the loss of the spacecraft and all seven astronauts on launch, grounding the entire space shuttle fleet for 36 months and forced

13802-407: The selection of twelve additional payloads, provided by universities and industry. Seven of these are scientific investigations while five are technology demonstrations. In June 2021, NASA announced the selection of three payloads from its Payloads and Research Investigations on the Surface of the Moon (PRISM) call for proposals. These payloads will be sent to Reiner Gamma and Schrödinger Basin in

13936-641: The separation of dark and regular matter during galactic collisions. Finally, the Spitzer Space Telescope is an infrared telescope launched in 2003 from a Delta II rocket. It is in a trailing orbit around the Sun, following the Earth and discovered the existence of brown dwarf stars . Other telescopes, such as the Cosmic Background Explorer and the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe , provided evidence to support

14070-506: The setback caused by the Apollo   1 fire, which killed three astronauts, the program proceeded. Apollo   8 was the first crewed spacecraft to leave low Earth orbit and the first human spaceflight to reach the Moon . The crew orbited the Moon ten times on December   24 and   25, 1968, and then traveled safely back to Earth . The three Apollo   8 astronauts— Frank Borman , James Lovell , and William Anders —were

14204-698: The short time available before the first planned flights. Subsequent selections include payloads provided by universities and industry. Calls for payloads are planned to be released each year for additional opportunities. The Lunar Discovery and Exploration Program (LDEP) within the NASA Science Mission Directorate establishes contracts for the CLPS program and selects lunar science instruments that will use CLPS services. The CLPS Lunar Instrument Development process includes NASA Provided Lunar Payloads (NPLP), Lunar Surface Instrument and Technology Payloads (LSITP), Payloads and Research Investigations on

14338-534: The space shuttle be retired. In 2006, the Space Shuttle returned to flight, conducting several mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope , but was retired following the STS-135 resupply mission to the International Space Station in 2011. NASA never gave up on the idea of a space station after Skylab's reentry in 1979. The agency began lobbying politicians to support building a larger space station as soon as

14472-476: The space station spelled an end to the program. In 2003, a second space shuttle was destroyed when the Columbia was destroyed upon reentry during the STS-107 mission, resulting in the loss of the spacecraft and all seven astronauts. This accident marked the beginning of the retiring of the Space Shuttle program, with President George W. Bush directing that upon the completion of the International Space Station,

14606-431: The spacecraft. The mass of the landers and rovers can range from miniature to 1,000 kg (2,200 lb), with a 500 kg (1,100 lb) lander targeted to launch in 2022. The Draft Request for Proposal's covering letter states that the contracts will last up to 10 years. As NASA's need to send payloads to the lunar surface (and other cislunar destinations) arises, it will issue Firm-Fixed Price 'task orders' on which

14740-562: The stuck throttle valve which resulted in the termination of the flight prior to the planned precision landing. Xaero-B was a follow-up to Xaero with the ability to reach 6 kilometres (3.7 mi) altitude with engine on throughout. Xaero-B was between 15 and 16 feet tall where Xaero was 12 feet tall. Xaero-B performed hot-fire testing and test flights. It would have been used for the bulk of research flights up to initial altitudes between 20 kilometres (12 mi) to 30 kilometres (19 mi). The vehicle has now been retired due to damage on

14874-464: The surface. The mission was scheduled for December 2022, using a Falcon 9 rocket. On February 4, 2021, NASA awarded a CLPS contract to Firefly Aerospace , of Cedar Park, Texas , for approximately $ 93.3 million, to deliver a suite of 10 science investigations and technology demonstrations to the Moon in 2023 (later delayed to 2024). This was the sixth award (seventh counting the OrbitBeyond award that

15008-500: The traditional NTO/MMH bipropellant , the two propellant chemicals in MXP-351 were safer to handle because they are nontoxic. The bipropellant could also be stored at room temperatures, unlike liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen. The hypergolic combination had an ISP of 322 seconds. The storage life of MXP-351 before use was undergoing long-term studies but was expected to be a few years. The reduced operation constraints might have permitted

15142-500: The two landings in the round-trip competition flight. Xoie had an aluminum frame and featured a version of Masten's 750 pounds-force (3 kN) thrust engine that produced around 1,000 pounds-force (4 kN) of thrust. "Xoie", as the craft was nicknamed, qualified for the Lunar Lander Challenge level two on October 30, 2009. The Xaero reusable launch vehicle was a vertical-takeoff, vertical-landing (VTVL) rocket which

15276-579: The use of fuel cells instead of batteries, and conducted the first American spacewalks and rendezvous operations . The Ranger Program was started in the 1950s as a response to Soviet lunar exploration, however most missions ended in failure. The Lunar Orbiter program had greater success, mapping the surface in preparation for Apollo landings and measured Selenography , conducted meteoroid detection, and measured radiation levels. The Surveyor program conducted uncrewed lunar landings and takeoffs, as well as taking surface and regolith observations. Despite

15410-451: The various projects, mission architectures and associated timelines relevant to lunar and Mars exploration and science. Masten Space Systems In 2020, NASA awarded Masten a contract for a lunar lander mission; NASA was to pay Masten US$ 75.9 million for Masten to build and launch a lander called XL-1 to take NASA and other customer payloads to the south pole of the Moon. Masten Mission One would have been Masten's first space flight; it

15544-419: The work done with Xodiac and tested descent and landing technologies at speeds up to 447 mph (719 km/h). Xeus (pronounced Zeus) was a vertical-landing, vertical-takeoff lunar lander demonstrator. Xeus consisted of a Centaur upper stage (from United Launch Alliance ) with RL-10 main engine to which four Katana vertical thrusters have been added. Production Xeus was estimated to be able to land on

15678-454: Was Venus , sharing many similar characteristics to Earth. First visited by American Mariner 2 spacecraft, Venus was observed to be a hot and inhospitable planet. Follow-on missions included the Pioneer Venus project in the 1970s and Magellan , which performed radar mapping of Venus' surface in the 1980s and 1990s. Future missions were flybys of Venus, on their way to other destinations in

15812-484: Was a joint NASA–U.S. Air Force program, with the hypersonic test aircraft becoming the first non-dedicated spacecraft to cross from the atmosphere to outer space. The X-15 also served as a testbed for Apollo program technologies, as well as ramjet and scramjet propulsion. Escalations in the Cold War between the United States and Soviet Union prompted President John F. Kennedy to charge NASA with landing an American on

15946-663: Was able to previously accomplish. NASA launched its first commercial satellites on the STS-5 mission and in 1984, the STS-41-C mission conducted the world's first on-orbit satellite servicing mission when the Challenger captured and repaired the malfunctioning Solar Maximum Mission satellite. It also had the capability to return malfunctioning satellite to Earth, like it did with the Palapa B2 and Westar 6 satellites. Once returned to Earth,

16080-531: Was also a concern with sharing sensitive space technologies with the Europeans, which had the potential to dilute America's technical lead. Ultimately, an international agreement to develop the Space Station Freedom program would be signed with thirteen countries in 1985, including the European Space Agency member states, Canada , and Japan . Despite its status as the first international space program,

16214-531: Was being developed by Masten in 2010–2011. It was proposed to NASA as a potential suborbital reusable launch vehicle (sRLV) for carrying research payloads under NASA's Flight Opportunities Program (initially known as the Commercial Reusable Suborbital Research/CRuSR program), projecting 30 kilometres (19 mi) altitude in initial flights of five to six minutes duration, while carrying a 10 kilograms (22 lb) research payload. It

16348-472: Was cancelled after the contracted company went bankrupt). NASA has been planning the exploration and use of natural lunar resources for many years. A variety of exploration, science, and technology objectives that could be addressed by regularly sending instruments, experiments and other small payloads to the Moon have been identified by NASA. When the concept study on the Resource Prospector rover

16482-559: Was cancelled in April 2018, NASA officials explained that lunar surface exploration would continue in the future, but using commercial lander services under a new CLPS program. Later that April, NASA announced the Commercial Lunar Payload Services program as the first step in the solicitation for flights to the Moon. In April 2018, CLPS issued a Draft Request for Proposal, and in September 2018 the CLPS Request for Proposal

16616-399: Was contracted to land four NASA payloads (about 92 kg in total) to study a lunar feature called Reiner Gamma . The mission was known as IM-3 mission and was planned to land on the Moon in 2024. The contract value was $ 77.5 million and under the contract, Intuitive Machines was responsible for end-to-end delivery services, including payload integration, delivery from Earth to the surface of

16750-482: Was developing for the US government. Built using aluminium alloy via additive manufacturing techniques. Cutlass evolved into a low cost expendable upper stage engine using a gas generator cycle. A Phase 2 SBIR grant was not awarded so development was put on hold. Katana class engines were designed to produce up to 4,000 pounds-force (18 kN) of thrust and to be regeneratively cooled . They were designed for indefinite runtime and good throttle response. A video of

16884-503: Was for $ 199.5 million which covers Griffin lander and launch costs. The mission was scheduled for November 2024. On October 16, 2020, NASA awarded Intuitive Machines their second CLPS contract for Intuitive Machines Mission 2 (IM-2). The contract was worth approximately $ 47 million. Using a Nova-C lander, the mission would land a drill ( PRIME-1 ) combined with a mass spectrometer near the Lunar south pole , to attempt harvesting ice from below

17018-541: Was issued as a formal solicitation. On November 29, 2018, NASA announced the first nine companies that would be allowed to bid on contracts, which were indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity contracts with a combined maximum contract value of $ 2.6 billion over ten years. In February 2018, NASA issued a solicitation for Lunar Surface Instrument and Technology Payloads that may become CLPS customers. Proposals were due by November 2018 and January 17, 2019. NASA makes annual calls for proposals. On May 31, 2019, NASA announced

17152-461: Was later cancelled) for lunar surface delivery (a lunar lander) under the CLPS initiative. This was the first delivery awarded to Firefly Aerospace, which would provide the lunar delivery service using its Blue Ghost lander, designed and developed at the company Cedar Park facility. The next (seventh, not counting the OrbitBeyond contract) CLPS contract was awarded by NASA on November 17, 2021 to Intuitive Machines, their 3rd award. Their Nova-C lander

17286-492: Was launched in 1990 on STS-31 from the Discovery and could view galaxies 15 billion light years away. A major defect in the telescope's mirror could have crippled the program, had NASA not used computer enhancement to compensate for the imperfection and launched five Space Shuttle servicing flights to replace the damaged components. The Compton Gamma Ray Observatory was launched from the Atlantis on STS-37 in 1991, discovering

17420-435: Was offering its internally developed igniters and engines commercially to interested and qualified parties. Masten also had stated its intent at multiple conferences to participate in technology maturation and proof of concept projects. Broadsword was a 25,000 pounds-force (110 kN) methane/liquid oxygen rocket engine Masten Space Systems was developing for the US government. Advanced manufacturing techniques would permit

17554-418: Was propelled by the 1,150 pounds-force (5.1 kN) Cyclops-AL-3 rocket engine burning isopropyl alcohol and liquid oxygen . The first Xaero test vehicle flew 110 test flights before being destroyed in its 111th flight. During the record-setting flight on 11 September 2012, an engine valve stuck open during descent, and this was sensed by the control system. As designed, the flight termination system

17688-552: Was scheduled for launch in November 2023. The company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in July 2022, and was later acquired by Astrobotic Technology in September 2022. Its web url "masten.aero" is still active, and its operations continue as ""Astrobotic's Propulsion and Test Department". Masten Space Systems was a Mojave, California based rocket company that was developing a line of reusable VTVL spacecraft, and related rocket propulsion hardware. Masten Space Systems competed in

17822-406: Was triggered, destroying the vehicle before it could create a range safety problem. The final test flight was intended to test the vehicle at higher wind loads and altitudes, flying to an altitude of one kilometer while testing the flight controls at the higher ascent and descent velocities before returning to a precise landing point. The ascent and initial portion of the descent was nominal, prior to

17956-472: Was used to test MXP-351 in 2016, producing a thrust of 225 lbf. As of March 2017 , Masten was modifying the design to make the engines additively-manufactured with regeneratively-cooled thrust chambers. Machete engines were being scaled up to produce 1000 lb thrust for a terrestrial test-bed version dubbed (XL-1T). MXP-351 was Masten Space's internal name for a self-igniting bipropellant combination invented to fuel its small lunar landers. Unlike

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