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By NASA
NASA/Christopher LC Clark The parachute of the Enhancing Parachutes by Instrumenting the Canopy, or EPIC, test experiment deploys following an air launch from an Alta X drone on June 4, 2025, at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California. NASA researchers are developing technology to make supersonic parachutes safer and more reliable for delivering instruments and payloads to Mars.
The flight tests were a first step toward filling gaps in computer models to improve supersonic parachutes. This work could also open the door to future partnerships, including with the aerospace and auto racing industries.
Image Credit: NASA/Christopher LC Clark
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By NASA
NASA A Titan-Centaur rocket carrying the Viking 1 spacecraft launches from Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on Aug. 20, 1975. Viking 1 touched down on the red planet on July 20, 1976, becoming the first truly successful landing on Mars. Viking 1 was the first of a pair of complex deep space probes that were designed to reach Mars and to collect evidence on the possibility on life on Mars.
NASA’s exploration of Mars continues, with rovers exploring the planet’s surface and spacecraft studying from orbit. The agency’s Artemis missions will also lay the groundwork for the first crewed missions to Mars.
Learn more about Viking 1 and see the first photo it took upon landing.
Image credit: NASA
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By NASA
3 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
GRX-810 is a new metal alloy developed by NASA for 3D printing parts that can withstand the extreme temperatures of rocket engines, allowing affordable printing of high-heat parts.NASA Until now, additive manufacturing, commonly known as 3D printing, of engine components was limited by the lack of affordable metal alloys that could withstand the extreme temperatures of spaceflight. Expensive metal alloys were the only option for 3D printing engine parts until NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio, developed the GRX-810 alloy.
The primary metals in the GRX-810 alloy include nickel, cobalt, and chromium. A ceramic oxide coating on the powdered metal particles increases its heat resistance and improves performance. Known as oxide dispersion strengthened (ODS) alloys, these powders were challenging to manufacture at a reasonable cost when the project started.
However, the advanced dispersion coating technique developed at Glenn employs resonant acoustic mixing. Rapid vibration is applied to a container filled with the metal powder and nano-oxide particles. The vibration evenly coats each metal particle with the oxide, making them inseparable. Even if a manufactured part is ground down to powder and reused, the next component will have the qualities of ODS.
The benefits over common alloys are significant – GRX-10 could last up to a year at 2,000°F under stress loads that would crack any other affordable alloy within hours. Additionally, 3D printing parts using GRX-810 enables more complex shapes compared to metal parts manufactured with traditional methods.
Elementum 3D, an Erie, Colorado-based company, produces GRX-810 for customers in quantities ranging from small batches to over a ton. The company has a co-exclusive license for the NASA-patented alloy and manufacturing process and continues to work with the agency under a Space Act Agreement to improve the material.
“A material under stress or a heavy load at high temperature can start to deform and stretch almost like taffy,” said Jeremy Iten, chief technical officer with Elementum 3D. “Initial tests done on the large-scale production of our GRX-810 alloy showed a lifespan that’s twice as long as the small-batch material initially produced, and those were already fantastic.”
Commercial space and other industries, including aviation, are testing GRX-810 for additional applications. For example, one Elementum 3D customer, Vectoflow, is testing a GRX-810 flow sensor. Flow sensors monitor the speed of gases flowing through a turbine, helping engineers optimize engine performance. However, these sensors can burn out in minutes due to extreme temperatures. Using GRX-810 flow sensors could improve airplane fuel efficiency, reduce emissions and hardware replacements.
Working hand-in-hand with industry, NASA is driving technology developments that are mutually beneficial to the agency and America’s space economy. Learn more: https://spinoff.nasa.gov/
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Last Updated Aug 15, 2025 Related Terms
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By NASA
3 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
NASA now is accepting proposals from student teams for a contest to design, build, and test rovers for Moon and Mars exploration through Sept. 15.
Known as the Human Exploration Rover Challenge, student rovers should be capable of traversing a course while completing mission tasks. The challenge handbook has guidelines for remote-controlled and human-powered divisions.
The cover of the HERC 2026 handbook, which is now available online. “Last year, we saw a lot of success with the debut of our remote-controlled division and the addition of middle school teams,” said Vemitra Alexander, the activity lead for the challenge at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. “We’re looking forward to building on both our remote-controlled and human-powered divisions with new challenges for the students, including rover automation.”
This year’s mission mimics future Artemis missions to the lunar surface. Teams are challenged to test samples of soil, water, and air from sites along a half-mile course that includes a simulated field of asteroid debris, boulders, erosion ruts, crevasses, and an ancient streambed. Human-powered rover teams will play the role of two astronauts in a lunar terrain vehicle and must use a custom-built task tool to manually collect samples needed for testing. Remote-controlled rover teams will act as a pressurized rover, and the rover itself will contain the tools necessary to collect and test samples onboard.
“NASA’s Human Exploration Rover Challenge creates opportunities for students to develop the skills they need to be successful STEM professionals,” said Alexander. “This challenge will help students see themselves in the mission and give them the hands-on experience needed to advance technology and become the workforce of tomorrow.”
Seventy-five teams comprised of more than 500 students participated in the agency’s 31st rover challenge in 2025. Participants represented 35 colleges and universities, 38 high schools, and two middle schools, across 20 states, Puerto Rico, and 16 nations around the world.
The 32nd annual competition will culminate with an in-person event April 9-11, 2026, at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center near NASA Marshall.
The rover challenge is one of NASA’s Artemis Student Challenges, reflecting the goals of the Artemis campaign, which seeks to explore the Moon for scientific discovery, technology advancement, and to learn how to live and work on another world as we prepare for human missions to Mars. NASA uses such challenges to encourage students to pursue degrees and careers in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.
Since its inception in 1994, more than 15,000 students have participated in the rover challenge – with many former students now working at NASA or within the aerospace industry.
To learn more about HERC, visit:
https://www.nasa.gov/roverchallenge/
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Last Updated Aug 15, 2025 EditorBeth RidgewayLocationMarshall Space Flight Center Related Terms
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By NASA
National Institute of Aerospace NASA is calling on the next generation of collegiate innovators to imagine bold new concepts l pushing the boundaries of human exploration on the Moon, Mars, and beyond through the agency’s 2026 NASA Revolutionary Aerospace Systems Concepts – Academic Linkage (RASC-AL) competition.
The RASC-AL challenge fuels innovation for aerospace systems concepts, analogs, and technology prototyping by bridging gaps through university engagement with NASA and industry. The competition is seeking U.S.-based undergraduate and graduate-level teams and their faculty advisors to develop new concepts to improve our ability to operate on the Moon and Mars. This year’s themes range from developing systems and technologies to support exploration of the lunar surface, to enhancing humanity’s ability to operate and return data from the surface of Mars.
“This competition is a unique opportunity for university students to play a role in the future of space innovation,” said Dan Mazanek, assistant branch head of NASA’s Exploration Space Mission Analysis Branch at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton Virginia. “The RASC-AL challenge fuels creativity and empowers students to explore what’s possible. We’re excited for another year of RASC-AL and fresh ideas coming our way.”
Interested and eligible teams are invited to propose groundbreaking solutions and systems approaches that redefine how humans live and explore in deep space with relation to one of the following themes:
Communications, Positioning, Navigation, and Timing Architectures for Mars Surface Operations Lunar Surface Power and Power Management and Distribution Architectures Lunar Sample Return Concept Lunar Technology Demonstrations Leveraging Common Infrastructure Teams should express their intent to participate by submitting a non-binding notice of intent by Monday Oct. 13. Teams who submit a notice will be invited to a question-and-answer session with NASA subject matter experts on Monday Oct. 27.
The proposals, due Monday Feb. 23, 2026, are required to be seven-to-nine pages with an accompanying two-to-three-minute video. Proposals should demonstrate innovative solutions with original engineering and analysis in response to one of the four 2026 RASC-AL themes. Each team’s response should address novel and robust technologies, capabilities, and operational models that support expanding human’s ability to thrive beyond Earth.
Based on review of the team proposal and video submissions, in March, up to 14 teams will be selected to advance to the final phase of the competition – writing a technical paper, creating a technical poster, and presenting their concepts to a panel of NASA and industry experts in a competitive design review at the 2026 RASC-AL Forum in Cocoa Beach, Florida, beginning Monday June 1, 2026.
“The RASC-AL challenge enables students to think like NASA engineers—and in doing so, they often become the engineers who will carry NASA forward,” said Dr. Christopher Jones, RASC-AL program sponsor and Chief Technologist for the Systems Analysis and Concepts Directorate at NASA Langley. “The concepts they develop for this year’s competition will help inform our future strategies.”
Each finalist team will receive a $7,000 stipend to facilitate their full participation in the 2026 RASC-AL competition, and the top two overall winning teams will each be awarded an additional $7,000 cash prize as well as an invitation to attend and present their concept at an aerospace conference later in 2026.
The 2026 NASA RASC-AL competition is administered by the National Institute of Aerospace on behalf of NASA. The RASC-AL competition is sponsored by the agency’s Strategy and Architecture Office in the Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters, the Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD), and the Systems Analysis and Concepts Directorate at NASA Langley. The NASA Tournament Lab, part of the Prizes, Challenges, and Crowdsourcing Program in STMD, manages the challenge.
For more information about the RASC-AL competition, including eligibility and submission guidelines, visit: https://rascal.nianet.org/.
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