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By NASA
4 Min Read NASA Marshall Fires Up Hybrid Rocket Motor to Prep for Moon Landings
NASA’s Artemis campaign will use human landing systems, provided by SpaceX and Blue Origin, to safely transport crew to and from the surface of the Moon, in preparation for future crewed missions to Mars. As the landers touch down and lift off from the Moon, rocket exhaust plumes will affect the top layer of lunar “soil,” called regolith, on the Moon. When the lander’s engines ignite to decelerate prior to touchdown, they could create craters and instability in the area under the lander and send regolith particles flying at high speeds in various directions.
To better understand the physics behind the interaction of exhaust from the commercial human landing systems and the Moon’s surface, engineers and scientists at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, recently test-fired a 14-inch hybrid rocket motor more than 30 times. The 3D-printed hybrid rocket motor, developed at Utah State University in Logan, Utah, ignites both solid fuel and a stream of gaseous oxygen to create a powerful stream of rocket exhaust.
“Artemis builds on what we learned from the Apollo missions to the Moon. NASA still has more to learn more about how the regolith and surface will be affected when a spacecraft much larger than the Apollo lunar excursion module lands, whether it’s on the Moon for Artemis or Mars for future missions,” said Manish Mehta, Human Landing System Plume & Aero Environments discipline lead engineer. “Firing a hybrid rocket motor into a simulated lunar regolith field in a vacuum chamber hasn’t been achieved in decades. NASA will be able to take the data from the test and scale it up to correspond to flight conditions to help us better understand the physics, and anchor our data models, and ultimately make landing on the Moon safer for Artemis astronauts.”
Fast Facts
Over billions of years, asteroid and micrometeoroid impacts have ground up the surface of the Moon into fragments ranging from huge boulders to powder, called regolith. Regolith can be made of different minerals based on its location on the Moon. The varying mineral compositions mean regolith in certain locations could be denser and better able to support structures like landers. Of the 30 test fires performed in NASA Marshall’s Component Development Area, 28 were conducted under vacuum conditions and two were conducted under ambient pressure. The testing at Marshall ensures the motor will reliably ignite during plume-surface interaction testing in the 60-ft. vacuum sphere at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, later this year.
Once the testing at NASA Marshall is complete, the motor will be shipped to NASA Langley. Test teams at NASA Langley will fire the hybrid motor again but this time into simulated lunar regolith, called Black Point-1, in the 60-foot vacuum sphere. Firing the motor from various heights, engineers will measure the size and shape of craters the rocket exhaust creates as well as the speed and direction the simulated lunar regolith particles travel when the rocket motor exhaust hits them.
“We’re bringing back the capability to characterize the effects of rocket engines interacting with the lunar surface through ground testing in a large vacuum chamber — last done in this facility for the Apollo and Viking programs. The landers going to the Moon through Artemis are much larger and more powerful, so we need new data to understand the complex physics of landing and ascent,” said Ashley Korzun, principal investigator for the plume-surface interaction tests at NASA Langley. “We’ll use the hybrid motor in the second phase of testing to capture data with conditions closely simulating those from a real rocket engine. Our research will reduce risk to the crew, lander, payloads, and surface assets.”
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Credit: NASA Through the Artemis campaign, NASA will send astronauts to explore the Moon for scientific discovery, economic benefits, and to build the foundation for the first crewed missions to Mars – for the benefit of all.
For more information about Artemis, visit:
https://www.nasa.gov/artemis
News Media Contact
Corinne Beckinger
Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala.
256.544.0034
corinne.m.beckinger@nasa.gov
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By NASA
3 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
NASA’s Curiosity rover appears as a dark speck in this contrast-enhanced view captured on Feb. 28, 2025, by the HiRISE camera aboard NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Trailing Curiosity are the rover’s tracks, which can linger on the Martian surface for months before being erased by the wind. NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona The image marks what may be the first time one of the agency’s Mars orbiters has captured the rover driving.
NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover has never been camera shy, having been seen in selfies and images taken from space. But on Feb. 28 — the 4,466th Martian day, or sol, of the mission — Curiosity was captured in what is believed to be the first orbital image of the rover mid-drive across the Red Planet.
Taken by the HiRISE (High-Resolution Imaging Science Experiment) camera aboard NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, the image shows Curiosity as a dark speck at the front of a long trail of rover tracks. Likely to last for months before being erased by wind, the tracks span about 1,050 feet (320 meters). They represent roughly 11 drives starting on Feb. 2 as Curiosity trucked along at a top speed of 0.1 mph (0.16 kph) from Gediz Vallis channel on the journey to its next science stop: a region with potential boxwork formations, possibly made by groundwater billions of years ago.
How quickly the rover reaches the area depends on a number of factors, including how its software navigates the surface and how challenging the terrain is to climb. Engineers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, which leads Curiosity’s mission, work with scientists to plan each day’s trek.
“By comparing the time HiRISE took the image to the rover’s commands for the day, we can see it was nearly done with a 69-foot drive,” said Doug Ellison, Curiosity’s planning team chief at JPL.
Designed to ensure the best spatial resolution, HiRISE takes an image with the majority of the scene in black and white and a strip of color down the middle. While the camera has captured Curiosity in color before, this time the rover happened to fall within the black-and-white part of the image.
In the new image, Curiosity’s tracks lead to the base of a steep slope. The rover has since ascended that slope since then, and it is expected to reach its new science location within a month or so.
More About Curiosity and MRO
NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover was built at JPL, which is managed for the agency by Caltech in Pasadena, California. JPL manages both the Curiosity and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter missions on behalf of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington as part of the agency’s Mars Exploration Program portfolio. The University of Arizona, in Tucson, operates HiRISE, which was built by BAE Systems in Boulder, Colorado.
For more about the missions, visit:
science.nasa.gov/mission/msl-curiosity
science.nasa.gov/mission/mars-reconnaissance-orbiter
News Media Contacts
Andrew Good
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
818-393-2433
andrew.c.good@jpl.nasa.gov
Karen Fox / Molly Wasser
NASA Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600
karen.c.fox@nasa.gov / molly.l.wasser@nasa.gov
2025-059
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Last Updated Apr 24, 2025 Related Terms
Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) Curiosity (Rover) Mars Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) Explore More
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By USH
For over 80 years, covert research into exotic propulsion, anti-gravity systems, and spacetime manipulation has been housed within deep black programs, classified efforts shielded from both public and congressional oversight.
Now, on April 14, 2025, Michael Katzios, the new White House science chief, made a bold claim: “Our technologies permit us to manipulate time and space...” Shortly after, he doubled down, promising innovations that would let us “bend time and space” and “drive us further into the endless frontier.” These weren’t offhand remarks, they were published on the official White House site, signaling intent.
What does "Manipulating Spacetime" really mean? Spacetime is the four-dimensional framework of our universe. Per Einstein’s theory, mass and energy warp this fabric, creating gravity and affecting time. To manipulate it would mean bending reality itself, shortening distances, warping time, or enabling faster-than-light travel.
Just days before Katzios’ remarks, President Trump said: “We have a weapon that no one has a clue what it is... more powerful than anything even close.” Was he referencing to a spacetime weapon?
Trump isn’t the first high-level figure to hint at such capabilities. Back in 2019, Lt. Gen. Steve Kwast publicly discussed technology capable of transporting a person anywhere on Earth in under an hour, suggesting real-world applications of physics far beyond current norms. He also touched on wireless, space-based energy transmission.
Rumors have long circulated about transatmospheric vehicles, craft capable of seamless operation both within Earth’s atmosphere and in space. Though unconfirmed, these platforms may represent a technological bridge between known aerospace systems and genuine spacetime engineering. (Consider Gary McKinnon’s 2002 discovery during his hack of U.S. military systems: references to a secret space fleet and "non-terrestrial officers.")
But it is not only about manipulating time and space.
What might they also have: Anti-Gravity Propulsion: Altering inertia with plasma or exotic materials, referenced in Navy patents. Warp Drives: Bending space around a craft to move without motion. Zero-Point Energy: Tapping the quantum vacuum for limitless energy, a paradigm-shifting source of power.
But why some groups want to keep it secret? There are compelling reasons for secrecy, none of them rooted in public interest:
Control of Power – Whoever controls this tech controls the future. Economic Impact – It would collapse the fossil fuel, aviation, and defense sectors. Weaponization Risk – These tools could be catastrophic in the wrong hands. Psychological Shock – It would rewrite everything we know about science and our place in the cosmos.
Despite growing testimony and a trove of leaked documents, officials continue to dismiss these claims. The Deep State line remains unchanged: “No empirical evidence exists for reverse-engineering extraterrestrial technology.” But the evidence says otherwise.
Supporting evidence: 1. Exotic materials reportedly recovered in 1950s, held by Lockheed. 2. The 1953 Robertson Panel even set the tone for decades of deliberate obfuscation, publicly debunking UFOs while secretly studying their implications. The CIA used Project Blue Book to publicly debunk UFOs. 3. As early as 1966, the U.S. Air Force reportedly managed over 30 classified anti-gravity projects. 4. A 1971 Australian Defense report referenced America’s "Advanced Saucer Aircraft" and a Cold War “UFO crash program” into anti-gravity propulsion. 5. The US government, through its CIA's Office of Global Access (OGA), is reported to have a secret program to retrieve and reverse-engineer crashed UFOs. This program, which began in 2003, is said to have recovered at least nine non-human aircraft, some of which were intact. The OGA works with special operations forces like SEAL teams to conduct these retrievals, keeping the operations highly secret. 6. CIA allegedly blocked a 2024 transfer of exotic materials from Lockheed to Bigelow Aerospace.
Ben Rich, former head of Lockheed Skunk Works, reportedly stated: “We now have the technology to take ET home.”
Don Phillips, also from Lockheed, confirmed reverse-engineering efforts related to recovered UFO craft, allegedly including materials from the infamous 1947 Roswell incident.
Dr. Salvatore Pais, a Navy scientist, filed patents (2016–2019) for highly unconventional devices, including a Space-Time Modification Weapon. These patents describe the use of electromagnetic fields, plasma, and rotational force fields. Theoretically, this device could create a spacetime modification weapon more powerful than hydrogen bombs. The Navy invested USD 508,000 testing the concept between 2016-2019.
But what could be the reason they are starting to reveal it now? The sudden shift toward public statements about advanced capabilities seems deliberate.
Consider the possible motives: 1. Strategic Signaling: A subtle warning to adversaries: “We possess technology beyond your reach.” 2.Controlled Disclosure: Shaping the narrative gradually to maintain public trust and institutional control. 3. Leaks Are Coming: Private-sector breakthroughs or whistleblowers may soon expose the truth. 4. Justifying Black Budgets: Revealing exotic tech lends credibility to decades of hidden spending under national security.
But perhaps the most compelling reason: a major event, whether real, staged, or cosmic in nature or eventually an alien contact scenario is on the horizon. This may be phase one of psychological preparation.
Finally; the evidence suggests that these exotic advanced technologies already exist, whether reverse-engineered or the result of disruptive physics breakthroughs. But what’s happening now isn’t full disclosure. It’s a carefully managed narrative operation, an information war cloaked in the language of advanced science.
References and must watch: Alex Jones and Top Deep State / COG Researcher Daniel Liszt: https://x.com/RealAlexJones/status/1913354709106098659 Richard Dolan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qd7CIe5wnwQ View the full article
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By European Space Agency
With the launch of ESA’s Biomass satellite scheduled for 29 April, preparations at Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, have reached a key milestone. The satellite has now been sealed inside the protective fairing of the Vega-C rocket – now hidden from view, the satellite is almost ready for its journey into space.
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By NASA
1 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
Why do we grow plants in space?
Plants are such versatile organisms that they can fulfill many roles in our exploration of space. Plants provide us with food, with oxygen, they can recycle water and waste, and they can even provide us with psychological benefits. So all these functions will help NASA in fulfilling our goal of trying to create a sustainable environment for human presence in space.
But there are also other benefits. We can investigate how plants adapt to the novel environment of space, something that’s completely outside their evolutionary history. We can develop new processes and technologies to cultivate plants in difficult and even extreme environments. All these lessons learned will help us in ultimately improving the lives of humans here on Earth by being able to better cultivate plants.
So why do we grow plants in space? To be able to create a sustainable environment for us to thrive in space, as well as improve lives and agricultural techniques here on Earth.
[END VIDEO TRANSCRIPT]
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Last Updated Apr 15, 2025 Related Terms
General Advanced Plant Habitat (APH) Biological & Physical Sciences International Space Station (ISS) ISS Research Plant Biology Science & Research Science Mission Directorate Space Biology Space Biology Program Explore More
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