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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
Curiosity Navigation Curiosity Home Mission Overview Where is Curiosity? Mission Updates Science Overview Instruments Highlights Exploration Goals News and Features Multimedia Curiosity Raw Images Images Videos Audio Mosaics More Resources Mars Missions Mars Sample Return Mars Perseverance Rover Mars Curiosity Rover MAVEN Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Mars Odyssey More Mars Missions Mars Home 4 min read
Curiosity Blog, Sols 4641-4648: Thinking Outside and Inside the ‘Boxwork’
NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity acquired this image using its Left Navigation Camera on Aug. 28, 2025 — Sol 4643, or Martian day 4,643 of the Mars Science Laboratory mission — at 20:45:52 UTC. NASA/JPL-Caltech Written by Ashley Stroupe, Mission Operations Engineer and Rover Planner at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Earth planning week: Aug. 25, 2025.
This week Curiosity has been exploring the boxwork unit, investigating both the ridges and the hollows to better characterize them and understand how they may have formed. We’ve been doing lots of remote science, contact science, and driving in each plan. In addition, we have our standard daily environmental observations to look at dust in the atmosphere. We can still see distant targets like the crater rim, but temperatures will soon begin to warm up as we start moving into a dustier part of the year. And after each drive, we also use AEGIS to do some autonomous target selection for ChemCam observations. I was the arm rover planner for the 4645-4648 plan on Friday.
For Monday’s plan (sols 4641-4642), after a successful weekend drive Curiosity began on the edge of a boxwork ridge. We did a lot of imaging, including Mastcam mosaics of “El Alto,” an upturned rock near a wheel, the ridge forming the south side of the Mojo hollow, “Sauces,” our contact science target, and “Navidad,” an extension of our current workspace. We also took ChemCam LIBS of Sauces and an RMI mosaic. The rover planners did not find any bedrock large enough to brush, but did MAHLI and APXS on Sauces. Ready to drive, Curiosity drove about 15 meters (about 49 feet) around the ridge to the south and into the next hollow, named “Mojo.”
In Wednesday’s plan (sols 4643-4644), Curiosity was successfully parked in the Mojo hollow. We started with a lot of imaging, including Mastcam mosaics of the ridges around the Mojo hollow, a nearby trough and the hollow floor to look for regolith movement. We also imaged a fractured float rock named “La Laguna Verde.” ChemCam planned a LIBS target on “Corani,” a thin resistant clast sticking out of the regolith, a RMI mosaic of a target on the north ridge named “Cocotoni,” and a long-distance RMI mosaic of “Babati Mons,” a mound about 100 kilometers (about 62 miles) away that we can see peeking over the rim of Gale crater! With no bedrock in the workspace, the rover planners did MAHLI and APXS observations on a regolith target named “Tarapacá.” The 12-meter drive in this plan (about 39 feet) was challenging; driving out of the hollow and up onto the ridge required the rover to overcome tilts above 20 degrees, where the rover can experience a lot of slip. Also, with the drive late in the day, it was challenging to determine where Curiosity should be looking to track her slip using Visual Odometry without getting blinded by the sun or losing features in shadows. Making sure VO works well is particularly important on drives like this when we expect a lot of slip.
Friday’s plan, like most weekend plans, was more complex — particularly because this four-sol plan also covers the Labor Day holiday on Monday. Fortunately, the Wednesday drive was successful, and we reached the desired parking location on the ridge south of Mojo for imaging and contact science. The included image looks back over the rover’s shoulder, where we can see the ridge and hollow. We took a lot of imaging looking at hollows and the associated ridges. We are taking a Mastcam mosaic of “Jorginho Cove,” a target covering the ridge we are parked on and the next hollow to the south, “Pica,” a float rock that is grayish in color, and a ridge/hollow pair named “Laguna Colorada.” We also take ChemCam LIBS observations of Pica and two light-toned pieces of bedrock named “Tin Tin” and ”Olca.” ChemCam takes RMI observations of “Briones,” which is a channel on the crater rim, “La Serena,” some linear features in the crater wall, and a channel that feeds into the Peace Vallis fan.
After a week of fairly simple arm targets, the rover planners had a real challenge with this workspace. The rocks were mostly too small and too rough to brush, but we did find one spot after a lot of looking. We did DRT, APXS, and MAHLI on this spot, named “San Jose,” and also did MAHLI and APXS on another rock named “Malla Qullu.” This last drive of the week is about 15 meters (about 49 feet) following along a ridge and then driving onto a nearby one.
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NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity at the base of Mount Sharp NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS Share
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By NASA
Credit: NASA NASA has awarded ASCEND Aerospace & Technology of Cape Canaveral, Florida, the Contract for Organizing Spaceflight Mission Operations and Systems (COSMOS), to provide services at the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.
The COSMOS is a single award, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract valued at $1.8 billion that begins its five-year base period no earlier than Dec. 1, with two option periods that could extend until 2034. The Aerodyne Company of Cape Canaveral, Florida, and Jacobs Technology Company of Tullahoma, Tennessee, are joint venture partners.
Work performed under the contract will support NASA’s Flight Operation Directorate including the Orion and Space Launch System Programs, the International Space Station, Commercial Crew Program, and the Artemis campaign. Services include Mission Control Center systems, training systems, mockup environments, and training for astronauts, instructors, and flight controllers.
For more information about NASA and agency programs, visit:
https://www.nasa.gov
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Tiernan Doyle
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600
tiernan.doyle@nasa.gov
Chelsey Ballarte
Johnson Space Center, Houston
281-483-5111
chelsey.n.ballarte@nasa.gov
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Last Updated Aug 28, 2025 LocationNASA Headquarters Related Terms
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By Space Force
The USSF and nine partner nations concluded Schriever Wargame 2025, capping a two-week wargame that tested strategies, evaluated future technologies and strengthened international cooperation in space.
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By NASA
Think of NASA’s Stennis Space Center, and one likely thinks of rocket propulsion testing. The site has a long history of testing to support the nation’s space efforts, including the current Artemis program to send astronauts to the Moon to prepare for future human exploration of Mars.
However, NASA Stennis also is working to become a key supporter of more terrestrial exploration. Indeed, in terms of unmanned range operations, NASA Stennis has it all – layers of restricted airspace, a closed canal system, and acres upon acres of protected terrain.
Field TestU.S. Naval Research Laboratory personnel conduct a field experiment involving an unmanned aerial system at NASA Stennis in March 2024. (NASA/Danny Nowlin)NASA/Danny Nowlin Marine OperationU.S. Naval Research laboratory personnel conduct tests on The Blue Boat made by Blue Robotics, an unmanned surface vessel, at NOAA’s National Data Buoy Center basin at NASA Stennis on Dec. 19, 2024.NASA/Danny Nowlin Bird’s-Eye ViewAn unmanned aerial system provides a bird’s-eye view of an RS-25 on Feb. 22, 2024, on the Fred Haise Test Stand at NASA Stennis. NASA The NASA site near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, is an ideal location for all types of air, marine, and ground testing, said Range Operations Manager Jason Peterson. “My job is to understand the customer, and their requirements and limitations, to help them succeed,” he added. “What makes NASA Stennis unique is our federally protected area for users to operate.”
The need to learn about unmanned systems, such as drones or underwater vehicles, in a safe environment is growing as technology advances. Think of it like learning to drive a car in a parking lot before hitting the road.
NASA Stennis has already begun leveraging these capabilities. In 2024, the center established an agreement with Skydweller Aero Inc. to utilize restricted airspace for flight testing of autonomous, solar-powered aircraft. This first-of-its-kind agreement paves the way for future collaborations as NASA Stennis expands its customer-based operations beyond onsite tenants.
An unmanned aerial system provides a panoramic view of the NASA Stennis test complex and canal system. NASA Look to the Sky
NASA Stennis has its own protected airspace, similar to how airports control the skies around them. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) first established this restricted airspace in 1966 and expanded it in 2016 to support both NASA missions and U.S. Department of Defense operations.
NASA Stennis is one of only two non-military restricted airspaces in the nation. It operates two main airspace zones – a propulsion testing area extending from ground level up to 12,000 feet for safely testing rocket engines without interfering with regular air traffic, and an aircraft operations zone covering 100 square miles up to 6,000 feet, with 15 dedicated acres for drone launch and recovery.
NASA Stennis staff provide comprehensive support including safety reviews, coordination between aircraft operators and FAA air traffic controllers, and constant communication with range safety personnel to ensure all operations are conducted safely.
Marine Operations
The centerpiece of the NASA Stennis marine range is its extensive 7.5-mile canal system, protected by a lock-and-dam system that connects to Pearl River tributaries. This network accommodates various marine platforms including traditional watercraft, autonomous underwater vehicles, remotely operated vehicles, unmanned surface vessels, and aerial drones requiring water landing capabilities.
The controlled environment provides protection from adverse weather and interference, making it ideal for testing sensitive or proprietary technologies. The facility is particularly valuable for emerging technologies in autonomous systems, sensor integration, and multi-domain operations where air, surface, and underwater platforms operate in coordination.
Ground Level
NASA Stennis facilities are located on 13,800 acres of fenced-in property, surrounded by an additional 125,000 acres of protected land known as the acoustical buffer zone. This area was established primarily through permanent lease to allow testing of large rocket hardware without disturbing area residents and is closely monitored without permanent habitable structures.
“The location helps reduce hazards to the public when testing new technology,” Peterson said. “With supporting infrastructure for office space, storage, or manufacturing, this makes NASA Stennis a great place to test, train, operate, and even manufacture.”
The NASA Stennis federal city already hosts more than 50 federal, state, academic, public, and private aerospace, technology, and research organizations, with room for more. All tenants share operating costs while pursuing individual missions.
‘Open for Business’
NASA Stennis leaders are keenly aware of the opportunity such unique capabilities afford. The center’s 2024-2028 strategic plan states NASA Stennis will leverage these unique capabilities to support testing and operation of uncrewed systems.
Leaders are working to identify opportunities to maximize site capabilities and develop an effective business model. “NASA Stennis is open for business, and we want to provide a user-friendly range for operators to test vehicles by creating an environment that is safe, cost-effective, and focused on mission success,” Peterson said.
For information about range operations at NASA’s Stennis Space Center, visit:
Range and Airspace Operations – NASA
For information about Stennis Space Center, visit:
https://www.nasa.gov/stennis
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Last Updated Aug 25, 2025 EditorNASA Stennis CommunicationsContactC. Lacy Thompsoncalvin.l.thompson@nasa.gov / (228) 688-3333LocationStennis Space Center Related Terms
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