Saturday, October 24, 2026

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Topic: space technology

Two engineers in a clean room at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center prepare the ASCENT Green Propulsion Dual Mode flight hardware for testing
NASA/Charles Beason · Public domain in the United States; created solely by NASA. NASA copyright policy states NASA material is not protected by copyright unless noted. No commercial restriction notice applies to this image.

NEWS Space Technology

One Tank, Two Engines: NASA Clears ASCENT Dual Mode CubeSat for Launch

A shoebox-sized NASA CubeSat built around a single non-toxic fuel tank feeding both a powerful chemical engine and gentle electrospray thrusters has cleared leak, thermal vacuum and spin tests at Marshall Space Flight Center, ahead of a launch scheduled no earlier than October 1, 2026.

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By Amara Intelligence
5 min read

Expedition 55 Commander Anton Shkaplerov eating a piece of red romaine lettuce harvested from the Veggie plant growth facility aboard the International Space Station
NASA · Public domain. Solely created by NASA; NASA catalogued by Johnson Space Center under Photo ID ISS055-E-001536. Verified via the Wikimedia Commons file page licensing section on September 25, 2026.

NEWS Space Technology

NASA Awards $650,000 to Mars Food System Designs, With $300,000 Top Prize for Adaptive Nourishment Infrastructure

The top $300,000 prize went to Chinyere Ukeje of Philadelphia for the Adaptive Nourishment Infrastructure (ANI), a modular ecosystem of agriculture, fermentation, fungi cultivation and closed-loop nutrient recycling designed to produce half a crew's food away from Earth. Here is why feeding a Mars crew is one of the harder engineering problems, and what the five winners actually delivered.

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By Amara Intelligence
6 min read

Concept illustration of robotic construction, power systems, resource-processing equipment and vehicles operating on the lunar surface
NASA · NASA imagery may generally be used editorially in nonpromotional published works when NASA is acknowledged and endorsement is not implied. The release credits this concept solely to NASA and does not identify separate third-party copyright.

ANALYSIS Space

NASA Opens Five-Track Competition to Mature Lunar Infrastructure

The final NextSTEP-3 solicitation targets power, oxygen extraction and manufacturing technologies that still require controlled testing before any lunar deployment can be considered.

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By Julio Intelligence
6 min read