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By NASA
NASA Glenn Research Center senior materials research engineer Kim de Groh, who conducted research for Hubble Space Telescope servicing missions, shared her experiences during a presentation at Great Lakes Science Center, home of the NASA Glenn Visitor Center, in Cleveland on Thursday, May 8, 2025. Credit: NASA/Dennis Brown April 24 marked the 35th anniversary of the launch of NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope. The iconic space observatory remains a household name —the most well-recognized and scientifically productive telescope in history. Engineers at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland played a significant role in how the telescope functions today.
NASA’s Glenn Research Center researchers Kim de Groh, left, and Joyce Dever conducted research for Hubble Space Telescope servicing missions. De Groh shared her experiences during a presentation at Great Lakes Science Center, home of the NASA Glenn Visitor Center, in Cleveland on Thursday, May 8, 2025. Credit: NASA/Sara Lowthian-Hanna NASA Glenn researchers assisted in all five Hubble servicing missions by testing damaged insulation, determining why it degraded in space, and recommending replacement materials.
One of those researchers, Kim de Groh, senior materials research engineer, shared some of that research in a special presentation at Great Lakes Science Center, home of the NASA Glenn Visitor Center, in Cleveland on May 8. She chronicled her Hubble experience with a presentation, a show-and-tell with samples directly from the telescope, and a Q&A addressing the audience’s Hubble-related questions.
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By NASA
As NASA partners with American industry to deliver science and technology payloads to the Moon, a dedicated team behind the scenes ensures every mission is grounded in strategy, compliance, and innovation. Leading that effort is Aubrie Henspeter, who advises all aspects of procurement for NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative—one of the cornerstone projects supporting the Artemis campaign.
Official portrait of Aubrie Henspeter. NASA/Bill Stafford With 20 years at NASA, Henspeter brings multifaceted experience to her role as CLPS procurement team lead in the Lunar & Planetary Exploration Procurement Office at Johnson Space Center in Houston. Her job is equal parts problem-solving, mentoring, and strategizing—all focused on enabling commercial partners to deliver NASA payloads to the lunar surface faster, more affordably, and more efficient than ever before.
“It’s been a great experience to see the full lifecycle of a project—from soliciting requirements to launching to the Moon,” said Henspeter. “We work to continuously adjust as the lunar industry grows and improve procurement terms and conditions by incorporating lessons learned.”
Henspeter leads a team of six contracting officers and contract specialists, managing workload priorities and supporting the continuity of seven commercial missions currently on contract. She also helps shape upcoming contract opportunities for future lunar deliveries, constantly seeking creative procurement strategies within a commercial firm-fixed-price framework.
NASA launched the CLPS initiative in 2018 to create a faster, more flexible way to partner with commercial companies for lunar deliveries. Thirteen vendors are participating as part of a multi-award contract, each eligible to compete for individual task orders to deliver NASA science and technology payloads to the Moon. These deliveries support Artemis goals by enabling new discoveries, testing key technologies, and preparing for long-term human exploration on the lunar surface.
Aubrie Henspeter receives the 2023 JSC Director’s Commendation Award from NASA Acting Associate Administrator Vanessa Wyche, right, and Johnson Space Center’s Acting Director Steve Koerner, far left, joined by her sons Elijah and Malik Merrick.NASA/James Blair In May 2023, Henspeter received the NASA Exceptional Service Medal for her leadership on CLPS from 2018–2023. For her, the recognition reflects the team’s spirit and collaboration.
“I genuinely enjoy working on this project because of its lean, adaptable approach and the amazing team involved,” she said. “When all of us across NASA work together we are the most successful and can achieve our mission.”
That sense of collaboration and adaptability has shaped many of the insights Henspeter has gained throughout her career—lessons she now applies daily to help the team stay aligned and prepared.
One of those key lessons: always keep the contract current.
“It’s all good until it isn’t, and then everyone asks—what does the contract say?” she said. “Open communication and up-to-date documentation, no matter how minor the change, are essential.”
Over the course of her career, Henspeter has learned to prioritize preparation, adaptability, and strong working relationships.
“Preparation in procurement is conducting thorough market research, understanding the regulations, finding the gray areas, and developing a strategy that best meets the customer’s needs,” she said. “Adaptability means staying committed to the goal while remaining open and flexible on how to get there.”
That philosophy has helped her navigate everything from yearlong international contract negotiations with foreign partners to pivoting a customer from a sole-source request to a competitive procurement that ultimately saved costs and expanded opportunity.
“NASA is full of brilliant people, and it can be challenging to present alternatives. But through clear communication and data-driven recommendations, we find solutions that work,” Henspeter said.
NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) team members at Kennedy Space Center in Florida for the launch of Firefly’s Blue Ghost Mission 1, including Aubrie Henspeter (second from left) and teammates Joshua Smith, LaToya Eaglin, Catherine Staggs, Shayla Martin, Tasha Beasley, Jennifer Ariens, Derek Maggard, and guests. As she looks to the Artemis Generation, Henspeter hopes to pass along a deep respect for teamwork and shared purpose.
“Every contribution matters. Whether it seems big or small, it makes a difference in achieving our mission,” she said. “I take pride in my role and in being part of the NASA team.”
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By NASA
NASA/Charles Beason Students from the University of Massachusetts Amherst team carry their high-powered rocket toward the launch pad at NASA’s 2025 Student Launch launch day competition in Toney, Alabama, on April 4, 2025. More than 980 middle school, high school, and college students from across the nation launched more than 40 high-powered amateur rockets just north of NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. This year marked the 25th anniversary of the competition.
To compete, students follow the NASA engineering design lifecycle by going through a series of reviews for nine months leading up to launch day. Each year, a payload challenge is issued to the university teams, and this year’s task focused on communication. Teams were required to have “reports” from STEMnauts, non-living objects inside their rocket, that had to relay real-time data to the student team’s mission control. This Artemis Student Challenge took inspiration from the agency’s Artemis missions, where NASA will send astronauts to explore the Moon for scientific discovery, economic benefit, and to build the foundation for the first crewed missions to Mars.
See highlights from the 2025 Student Launch.
Text credit: NASA/Janet Sudnik
Image credit: NASA/Charles Beason
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By NASA
Crew members are kicking off operations for several biological experiments that recently launched to the International Space Station aboard NASA’s 32nd SpaceX commercial resupply services mission. These include examining how microgravity affects production of protein by microalgae, testing a microscope to capture microbial activity, and studying genetic activity in biofilms.
Microalgae in microgravity
Sophie’s BioNutrients This ice cream is one of several products made with a protein powder created from Chorella microalgae by researchers for the SOPHONSTER investigation, which looks at whether the stress of microgravity affects the algae’s protein yield. Microalgae are nutrient dense and produce proteins with essential amino acids, beneficial fatty acids, B vitamins, iron, and fiber. These organisms also can be used to make fuel, cooking oil, medications, and materials. Learning more about microalgae growth and protein production in space could support development of sustainable alternatives to meat and dairy. Such alternatives could provide a food source on future space voyages and for people on Earth and be used to make biofuels and bioactive compounds in medicines.
Microscopic motion
Portland State University These swimming microalgae are visible thanks to the Extant Life Volumetric Imaging System or ELVIS, a fluorescent 3D imaging microscope that researchers are testing aboard the International Space Station. The investigation studies both active behaviors and genetic changes of microscopic algae and marine bacteria in response to spaceflight. ELVIS is designed to autonomously capture microscopic motion in 3D, a capability not currently available on the station. The technology could be useful for a variety of research in space and on Earth, such as monitoring water quality and detecting potentially infectious organisms.
Genetics of biofilms
BioServe This preflight image shows sample chambers for the Genetic Exchange in Microgravity for Biofilm Bioremediation (GEM-B2) investigation, which examines the mechanisms of gene transfer within biofilms under microgravity conditions. Biofilms are communities of microorganisms that collect and bind to a surface. They can clog and foul water systems, often leave a residue that can cause infections, and may become resistant to antibiotics. Researchers could use results from this work to develop genetic manipulations that inhibit biofilm formation, helping to maintain crew health and safety aboard the International Space Station and on future missions.
Learn more about microgravity research and technology development aboard the space station on this webpage.
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By NASA
Landing on the Moon is not easy, particularly when a crew or spacecraft must meet exacting requirements. For Artemis missions to the lunar surface, those requirements include an ability to land within an area about as wide as a football field in any lighting condition amid tough terrain.
NASA’s official lunar landing requirement is to be able to land within 50 meters (164 feet) of the targeted site and developing precision tools and technologies is critically important to mission success.
NASA engineers recently took a major step toward safe and precise landings on the Moon – and eventually Mars and icy worlds – with a successful field test of hazard detection technology at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center Shuttle Landing Facility in Florida.
A joint team from the Aeroscience and Flight Mechanics Division at NASA’s Johnson Space Center’s in Houston and Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, achieved this huge milestone in tests of the Goddard Hazard Detection Lidar from a helicopter at Kennedy in March 2025.
NASA’s Hazard Detection Lidar field test team at Kennedy Space Center’s Shuttle Landing Facility in Florida in March 2025. NASA The new lidar system is one of several sensors being developed as part of NASA’s Safe & Precise Landing – Integrated Capabilities Evolution (SPLICE) Program, a Johnson-managed cross-agency initiative under the Space Technology Mission Directorate to develop next-generation landing technologies for planetary exploration. SPLICE is an integrated descent and landing system composed of avionics, sensors, and algorithms that support specialized navigation, guidance, and image processing techniques. SPLICE is designed to enable landing in hard-to-reach and unknown areas that are of potentially high scientific interest.
The lidar system, which can map an area equivalent to two football fields in just two seconds, is a crucial program component. In real time and compensating for lander motion, it processes 15 million short pulses of laser light to quickly scan surfaces and create real-time, 3D maps of landing sites to support precision landing and hazard avoidance.
Those maps will be read by the SPLICE Descent and Landing Computer, a high-performance multicore computer processor unit that analyzes all SPLICE sensor data and determines the spacecraft’s velocity, altitude, and terrain hazards. It also computes the hazards and determines a safe landing location. The computer was developed by the Avionics Systems Division at Johnson as a platform to test navigation, guidance, and flight software. It previously flew on Blue Origin’s New Shepard booster rocket.
The NASA team prepares the Descent and Landing Computer for Hazard Detection Lidar field testing at Kennedy Space Center. NASA For the field test at Kennedy, Johnson led test operations and provided avionics and guidance, navigation, and control support. Engineers updated the computer’s firmware and software to support command and data interfacing with the lidar system. Team members from Johnson’s Flight Mechanics branch also designed a simplified motion compensation algorithm and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California contributed a hazard detection algorithm, both of which were added to the lidar software by Goddard. Support from NASA contractors Draper Laboratories and Jacobs Engineering played key roles in the test’s success.
Primary flight test objectives were achieved on the first day of testing, allowing the lidar team time to explore different settings and firmware updates to improve system performance. The data confirmed the sensor’s capability in a challenging, vibration-heavy environment, producing usable maps. Preliminary review of the recorded sensor data shows excellent reconstruction of the hazard field terrain.
A Hazard Detection Lidar scan of a simulated hazard field at Kennedy Space Center (left) and a combined 3D map identifying roughness and slope hazards. NASA Beyond lunar applications, SPLICE technologies are being considered for use on Mars Sample Return, the Europa Lander, Commercial Lunar Payload Services flights, and Gateway. The DLC design is also being evaluated for potential avionics upgrades on Artemis systems.
Additionally, SPLICE is supporting software tests for the Advancement of Geometric Methods for Active Terrain Relative Navigation (ATRN) Center Innovation Fund project, which is also part of Johnson’s Aeroscience and Flight Mechanics Division. The ATRN is working to develop algorithms and software that can use data from any active sensor – one measuring signals that were reflected, refracted, or scattered by a body’s surface or its atmosphere – to accurately map terrain and provide absolute and relative location information. With this type of system in place, spacecraft will not need external lighting sources to find landing sites.
With additional suborbital flight tests planned through 2026, the SPLICE team is laying the groundwork for safer, more autonomous landings on the Moon, Mars, and beyond. As NASA prepares for its next era of exploration, SPLICE will be a key part of the agency’s evolving landing, guidance, and navigation capabilities.
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