NASA News
Latest NASA news, funding rounds and robotics & AI coverage. 20 articles tracked by The Robotics Media.
About NASA
NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) is an independent agency of the United States federal government responsible for the nation's civil space program, as well as aeronautics and space research. It was established on July 29, 1958, succeeding the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, and is headquartered in Washington, D.C., with major field centers including Johnson Space Center, Kennedy Space Center, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and Goddard Space Flight Center.
NASA operates crewed and robotic space missions, including the International Space Station, the Artemis lunar program, the Space Launch System and Orion spacecraft, the Commercial Crew and Commercial Resupply programs, and robotic Mars exploration missions such as the Curiosity and Perseverance rovers. It also develops and operates space telescopes, including the Hubble Space Telescope and the James Webb Space Telescope, and is developing the PRIMA far-infrared space telescope, selected in 2026 and planned to launch in 2033.
The agency conducts aeronautics research and planetary science missions such as New Horizons, and partners with commercial companies (e.g., SpaceX, Boeing) and international space agencies on major projects. NASA's fiscal year 2026 budget is approximately $24.4 billion, and it employs roughly 21,000 civil servants.
Key facts
Products by NASA
- PRIMA Space Telescope (Hardware) — A planned far-infrared space telescope selected by NASA in 2026 as the first Probe Explorers-class mission, targeting a 2033 launch.
- James Webb Space Telescope (Hardware, 2021) — An infrared space telescope developed by NASA with ESA and CSA, launched in December 2021.
- Perseverance Rover (Robot, 2021) — A robotic Mars rover launched by NASA that landed on Mars in February 2021 to search for signs of ancient life and collect samples.
- Curiosity Rover (Robot, 2012) — A robotic Mars rover launched by NASA that has been exploring Gale Crater on Mars since 2012.
- Orion Spacecraft (Autonomous Vehicle, 2022) — A crewed spacecraft developed by NASA for deep-space missions as part of the Artemis program.
- Space Launch System (Autonomous Vehicle, 2022) — A super heavy-lift expendable launch vehicle developed by NASA for Artemis lunar missions.
Latest NASA news
- MicroVision Expands FieldAI Lidar Deal to Cover Ground Robots and Drones — FieldAI has purchased MicroVision's MOVIA lidar sensors for government and industrial robotics programs, widening a testing partnership across ground...
- Google and NASA Are Building an AI Robot to Help Astronauts on the Way to Mars — Google Public Sector and NASA are testing a voice-controlled assistant robot that can fetch medical equipment and monitor astronaut health during miss...
- NASA Picks $1.2B PRIMA Far-Infrared Telescope As First Probe Explorer — NASA has selected the PRIMA far-infrared space observatory, led by JPL and Caltech, as the first mission in its new Probe Explorers class, with a 2033...
- Infleqtion Hits 30 Entangled Logical Qubits On Sqale, A Fault-Tolerance Milestone — NYSE-listed Infleqtion says its Sqale neutral-atom quantum computer produced 30 fully entangled logical qubits from just 80 physical atoms, backed by...
- IBM And NASA Ship Open-Source Lunar Foundation Model For Ice, Craters And Landing Sites — NASA and IBM open-source the Lunar Foundation Model, joining the Prithvi family on Hugging Face and outperforming baselines by up to 23% on ice, crate...
- Blue Origin Wins $700M NASA Contract To Build Mars Telecommunications Orbiter — NASA on Sept. 2 awarded Blue Origin a firm-fixed-price contract worth up to $700 million to build and operate the Mars Telecommunications Network on t...
- NASA's Roman Space Telescope Launches On Falcon Heavy For Dark Universe Mission — NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope lifted off aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy on August 30, 2026, beginning a three-month journey to L2 to survey d...
- NASA awards Infleqtion $20M for quantum gravity sensor mission — NASA has awarded Infleqtion a $20 million follow-on contract to advance the world's first orbital quantum gravity gradiometer, ahead of a targeted 203...
- NASA Sets August 30 Falcon Heavy Launch For Roman Space Telescope — NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, with a Hubble-sized mirror and a view 100x wider, is set to launch on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy from Kennedy on...
- SpaceX Falcon 9 Upper Stage Slams Into Moon at 5,400 MPH Near Einstein Crater — A discarded SpaceX Falcon 9 upper stage from a 2025 lunar-delivery mission finally hit the Moon on August 5, 2026, gouging a fresh crater near Einstei...
- Wildfire Forces NASA To Evacuate Madrid Deep Space Network Site — NASA evacuated its Madrid Deep Space Network complex on July 24, 2026 as Spanish wildfires burned through Robledo de Chavela. Ops shifted to Goldstone...
- SpaceX's Starship Flight 13 Deploys First V3 Starlink Batch, Splashes Down — Starship lifted off from Starbase on July 24, deployed 20 next-generation Starlink V3 satellites and made controlled splashdowns of both the Super Hea...
- Archer, BETA And Macquarie Launch ACES To Build 250 eVTOL Charging Sites By 2030 — Archer Aviation, BETA Technologies and Macquarie Capital have formed ACES, America's Consortium for Electric Skyways, to build interoperable CCS charg...
- GE Aerospace, NASA, BETA And Boeing Fly First Hybrid-Electric Above 30,000 Feet — At Farnborough 2026, GE Aerospace and partners flew a modified Saab 340B in hybrid electric mode above 30,000 feet — the first time the technology rea...
- Rocket Lab Set to Launch NASA and Eta Space's LOXSAT Cryogenic Depot Demo — Rocket Lab is targeting July 17 to launch LOXSAT, an on-orbit cryogenic fluid management demo built by Eta Space for NASA that will validate the plumb...
- NASA's Anil Menon Rides Soyuz MS-29 to ISS With Dubrov and Kikina — NASA astronaut Anil Menon and Roscosmos cosmonauts Pyotr Dubrov and Anna Kikina launched aboard Soyuz MS-29 from Baikonur on July 14, 2026 for an eigh...
- NASA Adds Eight Firms to Commercial Satellite Data Program — NASA selected eight new companies and expanded buys from six existing holders under its Commercial Satellite Data Acquisition program.
- NASA Taps Relativity Space to Build 2028 Mars Orbiter Aeolus — NASA will partner with Eric Schmidt's Relativity Space to build and launch Aeolus, a Mars orbiter targeted for 2028 that will monitor the Red Planet's...
- NASA and CSA prep June 30 spacewalk to swap broken Canadarm2 joint — NASA and the Canadian Space Agency will send Expedition 74 astronauts on a spacewalk no earlier than June 30, 2026 to replace a failed wrist joint on...
- NASA Names Bresnik, Rubio, Douglas And Parmitano To Artemis III Crew — NASA on June 9 introduced the four-person Artemis III crew — commander Randy Bresnik, pilot Luca Parmitano of ESA, and mission specialists Andre Dougl...