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All of the science data will be made publicly available to everyone. Any commercial company could go get that data and use it for their purposes anywhere, not only American companies, but the international community as well.

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NASA as a public agency largely shares data. “That’s one difference to a commercial mission” said Maria Banks, CLPS project scientist at NASA Johnson.

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I asked how the data collected on this mission will be shared, considering the real data on regolith could be useful to companies such as Axiom Space, which is developing the AxEMU suit for the Artemis program.

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We're less than 2 days from Firefly Aerospace's Blue Ghost Mission 1, which is carrying several NASA payloads onboard, a number of which will be studying the lunar regolith and how it interacts with various materials. 📷 Firefly Aerospace

As part of NASA’s CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative and Artemis campaign, Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost Mission One lander will carry 10 NASA science and technology instruments to the Moon’s near side. Credit: Firefly Aerospace

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The investigation into the leaks from the Russian Segment (as discussed in @NASASpaceflight.com's recent ISS video) continues. NASA is working very closely with Roscosmos.

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Those spacewalks will be conducted by: 1st Spacewalk EV1 (Red Stripes) - Nick Hague EV2 (No Stripes) - Suni Williams 2nd Spacewalk EV1 (Red Stripes) - Suni Williams EV2 (No Stripes) - Butch Wilmore

Moving forwards, he also confirms that there is some applicability of using the exploration suits (such as Axiom Space’s AxEMU) with the ISS.

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Ryan Caton @ryancaton.co.uk · 09/01/2025

During the preview conference of 2 upcoming EVAs, NASA's Bill Spetch confirms to me that they're confident in the current EMUs (EVA Spacesuits) on the station, despite the issues they've faced over the last few years (notably water/coolant going places it shouldn't).

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In the event NG-1 pushes further, Monday morning is looking even better: 2m (6.5ft) waves, 3kt wind gusting 8kt. What I'm using to get these numbers - www.windy.com/29.273/-73.8...

windy.com

Professional weather forecast

50+ weather layers, weather radar and satellite

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Ryan Caton @ryancaton.co.uk · 09/01/2025

The "high sea state" Blue Origin speaks of appears to be forecasting 4.7 metre (15ft) waves, 20 knot wind gusting 31kt, according to wave data from windy.com, approx where Jacklyn is. At the new launch time, the waves are forecast to be 3.9m (12.7ft), winds 18kt gusting 30kt.

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Return of the samples is currently slated for around early 2035.

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Even if a commercial option is selected, JPL will still be involved, according to Associate Administrator, Science Mission Directorate, Dr Nicky Fox. “JPL is our Mars centre in NASA science. So regardless of which path we go forward with, JPL will have a key role moving forward”.

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NASA can’t make the decision on which option go with right now because they need to flesh out all of the possibilities of what is required in the engineering for the commercial option. NASA wants the quickest, cheapest way to get these 30 samples back.

Both of the options presented are creating a much more simplified, faster, and less expensive version than the original plan, according to Nelson. He also said that “this is going to be a function of the new administration in order to fund this”.

Both options still use ESA's return vehicle, which will return the samples from Mars Orbit to Earth. NASA prefers a direct Earth return (think OSIRIS-REx) than a cislunar return. A cislunar return would require another vehicle to launch from Earth, rendezvous, and bring them home.

- Uses a redesigned landing platform to carry the Mars Ascent Vehicle to the surface of Mars. - Replaces solar panels with a Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator. - Requires a redesign of the sample loading system onto the lander. Redesign will simplify the backward planetary protection approach.

Option 2: - Cost range of $5.8b - $7.1b. - Looks at the possibility of going into commercial capabilities, a heavy lander with existing commercial partners. - Nelson: "You all know” SpaceX and Blue Origin have expressed an interest, but it could be others as well.

Option 1: - Cost range of $6.6b - $7.7b. - Uses Sky Crane technology previously used with Perseverance & Curiosity. This technology has already been successfully tested with entry decent and landing capabilities on Mars. - This MSR Sky Crane would be 20% bigger than what flew with Perseverance.

A thread of yesterday's NASA Mars Sample Return update Administrator Bill Nelson announced that the agency will explore 2 options going forward for Mars Sample Return, with the final decision likely to come in 2026. @nasaspaceflight.com

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