What is NASA working on?

NASA has a lot in the works, like taking amazing pictures of space and putting humans on the moon and Mars. Below, we take a look at some of the excitement surrounding the space agency.

Artemis mission

Perhaps the mission with the most publicity, NASA's Artemis mission aims to put people back on the moon and "establish the first long-term presence." 

The mission is ongoing and takes place in phases. Artemis I took place in November 2022 and tested the safety of NASA's Space Launch System rocket using mannequins in preparation for phase II.

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NASA has also been funding private companies to create lunar landers to be tested prior to humans making the attempt. The Peregrine launcher, created by the company Astrobotic Technology, was launched in January 2024, but did not make it to the moon because of a critical propellant loss. In February, the Odysseus launcher, created by the company Intuitive Machines, successfully landed on the moon “marking the first commercial spacecraft to soft-land on the moon, and the first U.S.-made vehicle to touch down on the lunar surface since the Apollo program ended more than five decades ago,” said CNN.

Artemis II is expected to occur in September 2025, said Reuters. The phase will last approximately 10 days when "four astronauts will fly around the moon to test NASA's foundational human deep space exploration capabilities ... for the first time with crew." 

The next phase of the mission is Artemis III, which "will mark humanity's first return to the lunar surface in more than 50 years," and "make history by sending the first humans to explore the region near the lunar South Pole." The agency has selected the science instruments for the astronauts to deploy during the mission, specifically geared toward "understanding planetary processes, understanding the character and origin of lunar polar volatiles, and investigating and mitigating exploration risks," NASA said. This phase is scheduled to take place in 2026. Researchers are meanwhile eyeing landing locations, some of which contain water ice that could be of use on future missions.

Lunar mining

In addition to exploring the moon, NASA hopes to mine the area by 2032. The agency is looking to develop resources on the moon including water, oxygen and eventually minerals like iron.

Part of the goal of the Artemis mission is to set up a pilot processing plant on the moon to excavate resources, for which the first customers are expected to be commercial rocket companies, per Reuters. With the help of the Australian Space Agency, NASA plans to build and deploy a semi-autonomous rover to "demonstrate the collection of lunar soil that contains oxygen in the form of oxides," maybe as soon as 2026. 

On to Mars

NASA hopes to eventually use the outcomes of the Artemis mission to push humanity to Mars. The space agency is starting with a simulated mission known as the Crew Health and Performance Exploration Analog (CHAPEA), in which four people will live in a simulated Mars-like environment for a year to test the extent to which research can be done, as well as whether people could live and work there. There are four main complications that make traveling to Mars high risk: radiation, an eyeball swelling condition that occurs when people spend too much time in low-gravity situations, crew cooperation, and food and nutrition, CNN said. The first simulation began in June 2023, and the last one will take place in 2026. 

NASA's Psyche mission, launched in October 2023 with the goal of reaching a distant asteroid, hit its first milestone by "successfully carrying out the most distant demonstration of laser communications," CNN said. This is through the Deep Space Optical Communications technology demonstration (DSOC) aboard the Psyche spacecraft. The DSOC was able to achieve "first light," successfully sending and receiving data. This is an initial step in deeper space study and can aid in further exploration and reaching Mars.

Tracking climate changes

NASA's work isn't limited to space — the agency does valuable work for Earth, as well, especially in regard to tracking climate change. NASA has an Earth-observing satellite with the ability to track carbon dioxide emissions and removal by country. Tracking carbon emissions was not the initial goal of the satellite, but it provided a unique opportunity. "NASA is focused on delivering Earth science data that addresses real-world climate challenges," said Karen St. Germain, the director of NASA's Earth Science Division.

Another of NASA's satellites also detected early signs of El Niño, the natural phenomenon sending global temperatures skyrocketing. "When we measure sea level from space using satellite altimeters, we know not only the shape and height of water but also its movement, like Kelvin and other waves," said Nadya Vinogradova Shiffer, a NASA program scientist. NASA technology also found that coastlines are sinking and it is "happening rapidly enough to threaten infrastructure, farmland, and wetlands that tens of millions of people along the coast rely upon," the agency said.

Plane travel

In addition to space travel, NASA is also working to create sustainable travel on Earth. The agency has two programs dedicated to the project: the Sustainable Flight Demonstrator project and the Electrified Powertrain Flight Demonstration (EFPD) project.

For the Sustainable Flight Demonstrator project, NASA and Boeing are working to develop a full-scale demonstrator aircraft called the X-66A, CNN said. The project "builds on NASA's world-leading efforts in aeronautics as well climate," NASA's Nelson said in a statement. "The X-66A will help shape the future of aviation, a new era where aircraft are greener, cleaner, and quieter, and create new possibilities for the flying public and American industry alike." The agency hopes to run a test flight in 2028.

Monitoring UFOs

NASA's independent study team released a report on Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP) with "several recommendations about how the space agency can use its scientific expertise to contribute to the government's investigations into the objects," CBS News said.

"There are currently a limited number of high-quality observations of UAP, which currently make it impossible to draw firm scientific conclusions about their nature," a NASA press release said. The report only used unclassified data but emphasized that "NASA's assets can play a vital role by directly determining whether specific environmental factors are associated with certain reported UAP behaviors or occurrences."

Sampling asteroids

Through the agency's OSIRIS-REx program, scientists have retrieved a sample from the asteroid Bennu. Researchers have only tested the black rocks and dust on the outside of the collection device, but there have already been interesting findings. "We have verified that Bennu is dominated by water-bearing clay minerals," Dante Lauretta, the principal investigator for NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission, said to NPR. "We're just beginning here, but we picked the right asteroid, and not only that, we brought back the right sample," Daniel Glavin, OSIRIS-REx sample analyst and senior scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, said to CNN. "This stuff is an astrobiologist's dream."

NASA launched its Psyche mission in October 2023. The mission's goal is to travel to a "unique metal-rich asteroid with the same name, orbiting the Sun between Mars and Jupiter," the NASA website said. The asteroid is metal-heavy and may be a "partial core of a planetesimal, a building block of an early planet." The mission is expected to begin exploring the asteroid in 2029.

Finding minerals

NASA has started using modified U-2 spy planes to hunt for "strategic minerals" in the desert, Space.com said. The planes are being used to "locate stores of minerals hidden in the American desert," that are "vital for electronics manufacturing, the US economy and, by extension, national security."

The project is called the Geological Earth Mapping Experiment (GEMx) and is in collaboration with the United States Geological Survey. "Undiscovered deposits of at least some of these critical and strategic minerals almost certainly exist in the United States, but modern geophysical data is needed to increase our knowledge of these resources," Dean Riley, a collaborator on the project, said in a statement.

Updated Feb. 22, 2024: This article has been updated throughout.