NASA astronaut Don Pettit returned to Earth Saturday, accompanied by Roscosmos cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner, concluding a seven-month science mission aboard the International Space Station. The trio departed the space station at 5:57 p.m. EDT aboard the Soyuz MS-26 spacecraft before making a safe, parachute-assisted landing at 9:20 p.m. (6:20 a.m. on Sunday, […]

This newly reprocessed image released on April 18, 2025, provides a new view of an enormous, 9.5-light-year-tall pillar of cold gas and dust. Despite its size, it’s just one small piece of the greater Eagle Nebula, also called Messier 16. The Eagle Nebula is one of many nebulae in the Milky Way that are known […]

Two NASA astronauts will venture outside the International Space Station, conducting U.S. spacewalk 93 on Thursday, May 1, to complete station upgrades. NASA will preview the upcoming spacewalk during a news conference at 2 p.m. EDT on Thursday, April 24, on the agency’s website from NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. Learn how to watch […]

Back to ECF Home Transformational Advanced Energetic Propulsion Power Systems to Enable Small System Operations in Permanently Shadowed Lunar Regions

ECF 2024 Quadchart Yang.pdf Shuolong Yang University of Chicago This effort will leverage the latest developments in superconductors to build a power transmission cable that can operate in the extreme cold temperatures found on the Moon with very low electrical losses. The team will use novel manufacturing techniques to grow alternating layers of FeSe SrTiO3 […]

ECF 2024 Quadchart McGuirk.pdf Christopher McGuirk Colorado School of Mines This project will investigate and develop improved storage methods for the fuels needed to generate electrical power in places where sunlight is not available. The effort will focus on particularly tailored materials called Metal Oxide Frameworks, or MOFs, that can be used to store methane […]

ECF 2024 Quadchart Boles.pdf Jessica Boles University of California, Berkeley This project will develop piezoelectric-based power conversion for small power systems on the lunar surface. These piezoelectric systems can potentially offer high power density to significantly reduce size, weight, and cost. They can also offer high efficiency as well as resistance to the extreme lunar […]

ECF 2024 Quadchart Arya.pdf Manan Arya Stanford University This grant will design and develop lightweight, low-cost modular solar reflectors that can be stowed for transport in a compact volume. These reflectors can potentially be used to reflect and concentrate sunlight into a permanently shadowed area of the Moon where it could power photovoltaics. These reflectors […]

ECF 2024 Quadchart Underwood.pdf Thomas Underwood University of Texas, Austin This project will demonstrate a fusion propulsion system based on z-pinch which is a method of compressing plasma by running electrical current though it. The z-pinch will compress and heat the plasma to produce fusion reactions, and the system will be paired with an electromagnetic […]

ECF 2024 Quadchart Oguri.pdf Kenshiro Oguri Purdue University This project will investigate one of the key fundamental challenges associated with directed-energy light-sailing technology, similar to solar sails but powered by a laser beam pointed at the sail instead of by the sun. The effort will first mathematically model, then design, build, and test a prototype […]