The latest opportunity for payload delivery services to the Moon … New partnerships to help advance the commercial space business … And a “hat trick” for one of our planet-hunting spacecraft … a few of the stories to tell you about – This Week at NASA!

NASA Announces Call for Next Phase of Commercial Lunar Payload Services

On July 30, we announced the latest opportunity for industry to participate in our Commercial Lunar Payload Services or CLPS efforts to deliver science and technology payloads to and near the Moon. This new opportunity looks for companies to develop the next generation of lunar landers capable of landing heavier payloads on the surface of the Moon, including the South Pole, as part of the agency’s Artemis program. Artemis will send the first woman and next man to the Moon by 2024 – setting the stage for future human exploration of Mars.

NASA Announces US Industry Partnerships to Advance Moon, Mars Tech

We’ve partnered with 13 U.S. companies developing new technologies – that possibly could be used by our Artemis program – to help these companies work toward space ventures of their own. Under the partnerships, NASA will provide expertise, facilities, hardware and software at no cost. The partnerships will advance the commercial space sector and help bring new capabilities to market that could benefit future NASA missions.

TESS Finds Three New Worlds

Our Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite or TESS has discovered three new worlds orbiting a faint, cool star about 73 light-years from Earth. The innermost planet – likely a rocky world – is about 25% larger than Earth and orbits the star every 3.4 days at a distance about 14 times closer than Mercury orbits our Sun. The other two planets might best be described as mini-Neptunes, a type of planet not seen in our own solar system. Researchers hope further exploration of this system can help explain how two of these mini-Neptunes formed alongside a nearly Earth-size world. TESS, which began hunting for exoplanets in the southern sky in July 2018, has now turned its attention to the Northern Hemisphere to complete the most comprehensive planet-hunting expedition ever undertaken.

ISS Research & Development Conference

Our Administrator Jim Bridenstine and other agency representatives attended the International Space Station Research & Development Conference, July 29-August 1 in Atlanta. The annual event highlights discoveries and research on the space station. The ISS platform is not only utilized to improve and enrich the lives of people on Earth, it also serves as a test bed for technological advances required for deep space exploration.

Russian Cargo Ship Arrives to Space Station

On July 31, an unpiloted Russian Progress cargo spacecraft launched to the space station from Kazakhstan. It arrived a little over three hours later with almost three tons of food, fuel and supplies for the crew aboard the orbiting laboratory. The Progress will remain at the station until mid-December.

That’s what’s up this week @NASA …

For more on these and other stories follow us on the web at nasa.gov/twan.