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By NASA
3 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
Researchers in the Verification and Validation Lab at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley monitor a simulated drone’s flight path during a test of the FUSE demonstration.NASA/Brandon Torres Navarrete Through an ongoing collaboration, NASA and the Department of War are working to advance the future of modern drones to support long distance cargo transportation that could increase efficiency, reduce human workload, and enhance safety.
Researchers from NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley recently participated in a live flight demonstration showcasing how drones can successfully fly without their operators being able to see them, a concept known as beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS).
Cargo drones, a type of Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS), carried various payloads more than 75 miles across North Dakota, between Grand Forks Air Force Base and Cavalier Space Force Station. This demonstration was conducted as part of the War Department’s UAS Logistics, Traffic, Research, and Autonomy (ULTRA) effort.
NASA’s UAS Service Supplier (USS) technology helped to demonstrate that cargo drones could operate safely even in complex, shared airspace. During the tests, flight data including location, altitude, and other critical data were transmitted live to the NASA system, ensuring full situational awareness throughout the demonstration.
Terrence Lewis and Sheryl Jurcak, members of the FUSE project team at NASA Ames, discuss the monitoring efforts of the FUSE demonstration at the Airspace Operations Lab. NASA/Brandon Torres Navarrete The collaboration between NASA and the Department of War is known as the Federal USS Synthesis Effort (FUSE). The demonstration allowed FUSE researchers to test real-time tracking, situational awareness, and other factors important to safely integrating of drone traffic management into U.S. national airspace. The FUSE work marks an important step towards routine, scalable autonomous cargo drone operations and broader use for future military logistics.
“NASA and the Department of War have a long and storied partnership, collaborating with one another to contribute to continued advancement of shared American ideals,” said Todd Ericson, senior advisor to the NASA administrator. “FUSE builds upon our interagency cooperation to contribute enhanced capabilities for drones flying beyond the visual line of sight. This mission is the next big step toward true autonomous flight and will yield valuable insights that we can leverage as both the commercial drone, cargo and urban air taxi industries continue to expand and innovate. As always, safety is of paramount importance at NASA, and we are working with our partners at the FAA and Department of Transportation to ensure we regulate this appropriately.”
Autonomous and semi-autonomous drones could potentially support a broad range of tasks for commercial, military, and private users. They could transport critical medical supplies to remote locations, monitor wildfires from above, allow customers to receive deliveries directly in their backyards. NASA is researching technology to further develop the infrastructure needed for these operations to take place safely and effectively, without disrupting the existing U.S. airspace.
“This system is crucial for enabling safe, routine BVLOS operations,” said Terrence Lewis, FUSE project manager at NASA Ames. “It ensures all stakeholders can see and respond to drone activity, which provides the operator with greater situational awareness.”
NASA Ames is collaborating on the FUSE project with the War Department’s Office of the Undersecretary of War for Acquisition and Sustainment. The NASA FUSE effort is also collaborating with ULTRA, a multi-entity partnership including the Office of the Secretary of War, the County of Grand Forks, the Northern Plains UAS Test Site, the Grand Sky Development, the Air Force Research Laboratory, and several other commercial partners, aiming to bolster capabilities within the National Airspace System.
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Last Updated Sep 12, 2025 Related Terms
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By NASA
1 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
NASA Graphics NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, invites innovative companies, government agencies, and organizations to attend Partnership Days, scheduled for Oct. 21-22, 2025, at the center.
The event offers a unique opportunity to explore collaboration with NASA on cutting-edge research and development in areas such as aerospace, autonomy, sustainability, and more. Attendees will engage with NASA experts and learn how Armstrong’s capabilities can help accelerate innovation and bring transformative technologies to life.
Space is limited, and RSVP is required by Sept. 26.
To register, scan the QR code on the event poster or email AFRC-CAL-330-Partnerships@mail.nasa.gov.
What: NASA Armstrong Partnership Days
When: Oct. 21-22, 2025
Where: NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center, Edwards, California
Who: Industry leaders, government agencies, and organizations interested in research and development partnerships with NASA
For information about NASA Armstrong and other agency programs, visit:
https://www.nasa.gov/armstrong
-end-
Dede Dinius
Armstrong Flight Research Center, Edwards, California
661-276-5701
darin.l.dinius@nasa.gov
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By NASA
3 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
NASA’s Langley Research Center Acting Director Dr. Trina Marsh Dyal and Dr. Jeremy Ernst, vice president for Research and Doctoral Programs at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, complete the signing of a Space Act Agreement during a ceremony held at NASA Langley in Hampton, Virginia on Thursday, Sept. 11, 2025NASA/Mark Knopp As NASA inspires the world through discovery in a new era of innovation and exploration, NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University are working together to advance research, educational opportunities, and workforce development to enable the next generation of aerospace breakthroughs.
The collaborative work will happen through a Space Act Agreement NASA Langley and Embry-Riddle signed during a ceremony held Thursday at NASA Langley. The agreement will leverage NASA Langley’s aerospace expertise and Embry-Riddle’s specialized educational programs and research to drive innovation in aerospace, research, education, and technology, while simultaneously developing a highly skilled workforce for the future of space exploration and advanced air mobility.
Dr. Trina Marsh Dyal, NASA Langley’s acting center director, and Dr. Jeremy Ernst, vice president for Research and Doctoral Programs at Embry-Riddle, presided over the ceremony.
“NASA Langley values opportunities to partner with colleges and universities on research and technology demonstrations that lay the foundation for tomorrow’s innovations,” said Dyal. “These collaborations play an essential role in advancing aeronautics, space exploration, and science initiatives that benefit NASA, industry, academia, and the nation.”
In addition to forging a formal partnership between NASA Langley and Embry-Riddle, the agreement lays the framework to support Embry-Riddle’s development of an Augmented Reality tool by using NASA sensor technology and data. Augmented Reality uses computer-generated elements to enhance a user’s real-world environment and can help users better visualize data. Incorporating model and lunar landing data from Navigation Doppler Lidar, a technology developed at NASA Langley, this tool will enhance visualization and training for entry, descent, and landing, and deorbit, descent, and landing systems — advancing our capabilities for future Moon and Mars missions.
NASA’s Langley Research Center Acting Director Dr. Trina Marsh Dyal and Dr. Jeremy Ernst, vice president for Research and Doctoral Programs at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, sign a Space Act Agreement during a ceremony held at NASA Langley in Hampton, Virginia on Thursday, Sept. 11, 2025.NASA/Mark Knopp “As we work to push the boundaries of what is possible and solve the complexities of a sustained human presence on the lunar surface and Mars, this partnership with Embry-Riddle will not only support NASA’s exploration goals but will also ensure the future workforce is equipped to maintain our nation’s aerospace leadership,” Dyal said.
Embry-Riddle educates more than 30,000 students through its residential campuses in Daytona Beach, Florida, and Prescott, Arizona, and through online programs offered by its
Worldwide Campus, which counts more than 100 locations across the globe, including a site at Naval Station Norfolk in Virginia.
“We are thrilled that this partnership with NASA Langley is making it possible for our faculty, students, and staff to engage with NASA talent and collaborate on cutting-edge aerospace applications and technology,” said Ernst. “This partnership also presents an incredible opportunity for our students to augment direct research experiences, enhancing career readiness as they prepare to take on the aerospace challenges of tomorrow.”
NASA is committed to partnering with a wide variety of domestic and international partners, in academia, industry, and across the government, to successfully accomplish its diverse missions, including NASA’s Artemis campaign which will return astronauts to the Moon and help pave the way for future human missions to Mars.
For more information on programs at NASA Langley, visit:
https://nasa.gov/langley
Brittny McGraw
NASA Langley Research Center
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Last Updated Sep 11, 2025 Related Terms
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By NASA
3 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
While auroras are a beautiful sight on Earth, the solar activity that causes them can wreak havoc with space-based infrastructure like satellites. Using artificial intelligence to predict these disruptive solar events was a focus of KX’s work with FDL.Credit: Sebastian Saarloos In the summer of 2024, people across North America were amazed when auroras lit up the night sky across their hometowns, but the same solar activity that makes auroras can cause disruptions to satellites that are essential to systems on Earth. The solution to predicting these solar events and warning satellite operators may come through artificial intelligence.
The Frontier Development Lab of Mountain View, California, is an ongoing partnership between NASA and commercial AI firms to apply advanced machine learning to problems that matter to the agency and beyond. Since 2016, the Frontier Development Lab has applied AI on behalf of NASA in planetary defense, Heliophysics, Earth science, medicine, and lunar exploration.
Through a collaboration with a company called KX Systems, the Frontier Development Lab looked to use proven software in an innovative new way. The company’s flagship data analytics software, called kdb+, is typically used in the financial industry to keep track of rapid shifts in market trends, but the company was exploring how it could be used in space.
Between 2017 and 2019, KX Systems participated in the Frontier Development Lab partnership through NASA’s Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley, California. Working with NASA scientists, KX applied the capabilities of kdb+ to searching for exoplanets and predicting space weather, areas which could be improved with AI models. One question the Frontier Development Lab worked to answer was whether kdb+ could forecast the kind of space weather that creates the auroras to predict when GPS satellites might experience signal interruption due to the Sun.
By importing several datasets monitoring the ionosphere, solar activity, and Earth’s magnetic field, then applying machine learning algorithms to them, the Frontier Development Lab researchers were able to predict disruptive events up to 24 hours in advance.
While this was a scientific application of AI, KX Systems says some of this development work has made it back into its commercial offerings, as there are similarities between AI models developed to find patterns in satellite signal losses and ones that predict maintenance needs for industrial manufacturing equipment.
A division of FD Technologies plc., KX Systems is a technology company that offers database management and analytics software for customers that need to make decisions quickly. While KX started in 1993, its AI-driven business has grown considerably, and the company credits work done with NASA for accelerating some of its capabilities.
From protecting valuable satellites to keeping manufacturing lines moving at top performance, pairing NASA’s expertise with commercial ingenuity is a combination for success.
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Last Updated Sep 09, 2025 Related Terms
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