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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)
Human-rating is a critical certification process that validates the safety, reliability, and suitability of space systems—including orbiters, launch vehicles, rovers, spacesuits, habitats, and other crewed elements—for human use and interaction. This process ensures that systems are designed not only to protect human life but also to accommodate human needs and effectively integrate human capabilities. Human-rating requires that systems can tolerate failures, provide life-sustaining environments, and offer the crew sufficient control and situational awareness. NASA’s standards, such as a maximum allowable probability of loss of crew of 1 in 500 for ascent or descent, reflect the agency’s commitment to minimizing risk in human spaceflight.
Over the decades, the concept of human-rating has evolved significantly. Early efforts focused primarily on basic crew survival and redundancy in critical systems. However, as missions became more complex and extended in duration, the scope of human-rating expanded to include human performance, health management, and the psychological and physiological demands of space travel. Today, human-rating is a multidisciplinary effort that integrates engineering, medical, and operational expertise to ensure that systems are not only survivable but also support optimal human function in extreme environments.
Modern human-rating standards—such as NASA Procedural Requirements (NPR) 8705.2C, NASA-STD-8719.29 (Technical Requirements for Human-Rating), and NASA-STD-3001 (Human System Standards)—form the foundation of NASA’s approach. These documents emphasize risk-informed design, fault tolerance, human factors engineering, and the ability to recover from hazardous situations. They also provide detailed guidance on system safety, crew control interfaces, abort capabilities, and environmental health requirements. Together, they ensure that human spaceflight systems are designed to accommodate, utilize, and protect the crew throughout all mission phases.
The human-rating certification process is rigorous and iterative. It involves extensive testing, validation, and verification of system performance, including simulations, flight tests, and integrated safety analyses. Certification also requires continuous monitoring, configuration control, and maintenance to ensure that systems remain in their certified state throughout their operational life. Importantly, human-rating is not just a checklist of technical requirements—it represents a cultural commitment to crew safety. It fosters a mindset in which every team member, from design engineers to mission operators, shares responsibility for protecting human life.
To support program and project teams in applying these standards, NASA has conducted cross-reviews of documents like NASA-STD-3001 in relation to NASA-STD-8719.29. These assessments help identify relevant human health and performance requirements that should be considered during system design and development. While not a substitute for detailed applicability assessments, such reviews provide valuable guidance for integrating human-rating principles into mission planning and vehicle architecture.
NASA/Sydney Bergen-Hill Read More About Human Rating Share
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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
A member of the space crop production team prepares materials for Veggie seed pillows inside the Space Systems Processing Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. NASA/Cory S Huston When the Crew-11 astronauts launched to the International Space Station on August 1, 2025, they carried with them another chapter in space farming: the latest VEG-03 experiments, complete with seed pillows ready for planting.
Growing plants provides nutrition for astronauts, as well as psychological benefits that help maintain crew morale during missions.
During VEG-03 MNO, astronauts will be able to choose what they want to grow from a seed library including Wasabi mustard greens, Red Russian Kale, and Dragoon lettuce.
From Seed to Space Salad
The experiment takes place inside Veggie, a chamber about the size of carry-on luggage. The system uses red, blue, and green LED lights to provide the right spectrum for plant growth. Clear flexible bellows — accordion-like walls that expand to accommodate maturing plants — create a semi-controlled environment around the growing area.
Astronauts plant thin strips containing their selected seeds into fabric “seed pillows” filled with a special clay-based growing medium and controlled-release fertilizer. The clay, similar to what’s used on baseball fields, helps distribute water and air around the roots in the microgravity environment.
Crew members will monitor the plants, add water as needed, and document growth through regular photographs. At harvest time, astronauts will eat some of the fresh produce while freezing other samples for return to Earth, where scientists will analyze their nutritional content and safety.
How this benefits space exploration
Fresh food will become critical as astronauts venture farther from Earth on missions to the Moon and Mars. NASA aims to validate different kinds of crops to add variety to astronaut diets during long-duration space exploration missions, while giving crew members more control over what they grow and eat.
How this benefits humanity
The techniques developed for growing crops in space’s challenging conditions may also improve agricultural practices on Earth. Indoor crop cultivation approaches similar to what astronauts do in Veggie might also be adapted for horticultural therapy programs, giving elderly or disabled individuals new ways to experience gardening when traditional methods aren’t accessible.
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About BPS
NASA’s Biological and Physical Sciences Division pioneers scientific discovery and enables exploration by using space environments to conduct investigations not possible on Earth. Studying biological and physical phenomenon under extreme conditions allows researchers to advance the fundamental scientific knowledge required to go farther and stay longer in space, while also benefitting life on Earth.
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By NASA
NASA announced 10 winning teams for its latest TechLeap Prize — the Space Technology Payload Challenge — on June 26. The winners emerged from a record-breaking field of more than 200 applicants to earn cash prizes worth up to $500,000, if they have a flight-ready unit. Recipients may also have the opportunity to flight test their technologies.
NASA’s Biological and Physical Sciences (BPS) division is supporting the emerging space economy through challenges like TechLeap. The projects receive funding through the Commercially Enabled Rapid Space Science (CERISS) initiative, which pairs government research goals with commercial innovation.
Two awardees’ capabilities specifically address BPS research priorities, which include conducting investigations that inform future space crops and advance precision health.
Ambrosia Space Manufacturing Corporation is developing a centrifuge system to separate nutrients from cell cultures — potentially creating space-based food processing that could turn algae into digestible meals for astronauts.
Helogen Corporation is building an automated laboratory system that can run biological experiments without requiring astronaut involvement and may be able to transmit real-time data to researchers on Earth without having to wait for physical samples to return.
“The innovations of these small- and midsize businesses could enable NASA to accelerate the pace of critical research,” says Dan Walsh, BPS’s program executive for CERISS. “It’s also an example of NASA enabling the emerging space industry to grow and thrive beyond big corporations.”
Small Packages with Big Ambitions
Every inch and ounce counts on a spacecraft, which means the winning teams have to think small while solving big problems.
Commercial companies play a pivotal role in enabling space-based research — they bring fresh approaches to ongoing challenges. But space missions demand a different kind of innovation, and TechLeap teams face both time and size constraints for their experiments.
Winners have six to nine months to demonstrate that their concepts work. That’s a significant contrast from traditional space technology development, which can stretch for years.
The research serves a larger purpose as well. The technology helps NASA “know before we go” on longer, deep-space missions to the Moon and Mars. Understanding how technologies behave in microgravity or extreme environments can prevent costly failures when astronauts are far from Earth.
Small investments in proof-of-concept technologies can bring in a high ROI. With the TechLeap Prize, BPS is betting that big ideas will come in small packages.
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