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The latest opportunity for payload delivery
services to the Moon …

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New partnerships to help advance the commercial
space business …

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And a “hat trick” for one of our planet-hunting
spacecraft … a few of the stories to tell

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you about – This Week at NASA!

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On July 30, we announced the latest opportunity
for industry to participate in our Commercial

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Lunar Payload Services or CLPS efforts to
deliver science and technology payloads to

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and near the Moon.

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This new opportunity looks for companies to
develop the next generation of lunar landers

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capable of landing heavier payloads on the
surface of the Moon, including the South Pole,

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as part of the agency’s Artemis program.

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Artemis will send the first woman and next
man to the Moon by 2024 – setting the stage

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for future human exploration of Mars.

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We’ve partnered with 13 U.S. companies developing
new technologies – that possibly could be

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used by our Artemis program – to help these
companies work toward space ventures of their

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own.

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Under the partnerships, NASA will provide
expertise, facilities, hardware and software

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at no cost.

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The partnerships will advance the commercial
space sector and help bring new capabilities

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to market that could benefit future NASA missions.

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Our Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite
or TESS has discovered three new worlds orbiting

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a faint, cool star about 73 light-years from
Earth.

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The innermost planet – likely a rocky world
– is about 25% larger than Earth and orbits

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the star every 3.4 days at a distance about
14 times closer than Mercury orbits our Sun.

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The other two planets might best be described
as mini-Neptunes, a type of planet not seen

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in our own solar system.

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Researchers hope further exploration of this
system can help explain how two of these mini-Neptunes

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formed alongside a nearly Earth-size world.

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TESS, which began hunting for exoplanets in
the southern sky in July 2018, has now turned

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its attention to the Northern Hemisphere to
complete the most comprehensive planet-hunting

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expedition ever undertaken.

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Our Administrator Jim Bridenstine and other
agency representatives attended the International

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Space Station Research & Development Conference,
July 29-August 1 in Atlanta.

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The annual event highlights discoveries and
research on the space station.

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The ISS platform is not only utilized to improve
and enrich the lives of people on Earth, it

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also serves as a test bed for technological
advances required for deep space exploration.

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On July 31, an unpiloted Russian Progress
cargo spacecraft launched to the space station

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from Kazakhstan.

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It arrived a little over three hours later
with almost three tons of food, fuel and supplies

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for the crew aboard the orbiting laboratory.

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The Progress will remain at the station until
mid-December.

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That’s what’s up this week @NASA …