Janet Petro NASA Update – May 1, 2025

This week marked 100 days in President Trump’s Administration – 100 days of pressing forward on bold goals while continuing our tradition of exploring, innovating, and inspiring for the benefit of all. When we take a step back, the progress we’ve made together is clear.

We’ve maintained continuous operations aboard our orbiting laboratory, the International Space Station, rotating crews and bringing our astronauts home safely. We’ve advanced technologies that will play critical roles at the Moon and Mars. We’ve made major progress on Artemis II, stacking the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket and preparing Orion as our crew continues to train for their mission. And across our science and research portfolios, we’re delivering results every single day that ensure America’s continued leadership in air and space.

Each milestone is a direct reflection of your dedication, and I’m proud of all we’ve accomplished together so far.

And we didn’t slow down this week:

• NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers currently are outside the space station on a spacewalk to relocate an antenna that communicates with visiting spacecraft and install a mounting bracket ahead of rolling out a new set of solar arrays in the future. These new arrays will boost power generation by up to 30%, strengthening the space station’s capabilities for years to come.
• We signed a new agreement with Magna Petra Corp. to give NASA’s Mass Spectrometer Observing Lunar Operations (MSOLO) technology another Moon shot. MSOLO first demonstrated its capabilities earlier this year on the Intuitive Machines 2 mission. On this nest flight, launching no earlier than 2026 on a commercial rover, MSOLO will seek to measure low molecular weight volatiles – and may even help detect rare isotopes like Helium-3. Developing and flying technologies like MISOLO is how we lay the groundwork for future missions and enable U.S. leadership on the Moon.
• At NASA Johnson, our Artemis II crew – NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen – continued prep for their flight next year, including launch scenario training and a long-duration flight suit fit check for Glover. Meanwhile, at NASA Kennedy, teams have integrated the interim cryogenic propulsion stage that will send Orion around the Moon with the SLS rocket.
• Heliophysics landed on Merriam-Webster’s list of trending words this week – a well-earned moment that shows how your work is resonating beyond our community and capturing public imagination.
• Our data is shedding light on the cosmic origins of gold. New research suggests flares from highly magnetized neutron stars may be a major source of heavy elements like gold and platinum – connecting our science to some of the universe’s most powerful events.
• We launched a new citizen science project inviting volunteers to help classify galaxies observed by our James Webb Space Telescope, helping scientists answer questions about how the shapes of galaxies have changed over time, what cause the changes, and why.
• NASA’s X-59 team is currently conducting “aluminum bird” ground testing, an innovative, cost-effective method of evaluating its flight systems by using the actual aircraft as a testbed instead of building a separate, simplified one. The testing team fed simulated flight data into the aircraft’s systems, so the X-59’s hardware and software could react as if airborne – without ever leaving the ground.

Finally, the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation gave strong bipartisan support April 30, by voting to advance President Trump’s nominee to lead NASA, Jared Isaacman, to the full Senate for a final confirmation vote. The date for that vote has not yet been set, but we expect it soon.

Embrace the Challenge,

Janet