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January 15th, 2026
The NASA Office of Inspector General (OIG) has released a new report — 2025 Top Management and Performance Challenges.
It outlines five critical challenges facing the Agency:
Challenge 1: Returning Humans to the Moon
Challenge 2: Sustaining a Human Presence in Low Earth Orbit
Challenge 3: Improving Management of Major Programs and Projects
Challenge 4: Managing Cybersecurity Risks and Emerging Technology
Challenge 5: Sustaining Mission Critical Capabilities
Heat shield woes
Regarding the return of humans to the Moon, the newly-issued OIG report notes:
“The most time-sensitive challenge for NASA’s effort to return humans to the Moon is preparing for Artemis II. NASA must address various challenges to safely fly the four astronauts to lunar orbit on their planned 10-day mission,” the report explains.
Image credit: NASA OIG
“While NASA considered Artemis I to be a near-perfect flight, it revealed technical issues that need to be addressed before Artemis II can launch. Specifically, the ablative outer material of Orion’s heat shield did not properly vent the gases normally produced during entry into Earth’s atmosphere, leading to widespread cracking and char loss.”
Root cause
Furthermore, the report explains that “given NASA’s current understanding of the root cause, the Agency intends to reuse the heat shield design for Artemis II while flying a modified reentry trajectory that is less severe.”
High-speed return from lunar distance, the thermal protection system of Orion’s crew module must endure blistering temperatures to keep crew members safe. Measuring 16.5 feet in diameter, Orion’s heat shield is the largest of its kind developed for missions carrying astronauts.
Image credit: NASA
“Although this approach is technically feasible, it is also complex and contingent on a successful test campaign and does not retire the heat shield risk for Artemis III. The additional heat shield testing resulted in cascading delays to all Artemis missions starting with Artemis II.”
For access to the report, go to:
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Image credit: GRU Space
A newly-minted, Y Combinator‑backed startup aims to make lunar tourism the first sustainable business on the Moon.
That’s the word from Skyler Chan, founder and CEO of Galactic Resource Utilization Space (GRU Space), a visionary Berkeley-based group.
Proprietary module system
Space’s lunar hotel would be the first ever permanent off-Earth structure built in history. GRU Space plans to build it using a proprietary habitation module system and automated process for transforming lunar soil into durable brick structures.
Construction is targeted to begin in 2029 — pending regulatory approval – with airlocks open to guests by 2032.
And if you have $1 million dollars, you can put a cash-down deposit for the right to reserve one of the first spots on what will be a once-in-a-civilization experience, explains a GRU Space statement.
“If selected, you’ll be invited to enter into a deposit agreement and make a deposit of either $250,000 or $1 million depending on the option you select,” the GRU Space website adds.
Image credit: GRU Space
Inflection point
Chan said “we live during an inflection point where we can actually become interplanetary before we die.”
The key technical challenge we face, Chan adds, is that humans cannot expand beyond Earth until we solve habitation on the Moon. He argues that this is the “Promethean moment that allows for an exciting future in space. If we succeed, billions of human lives will be born on the Moon and Mars and be able to experience the beauty of lunar and martian life.”
GRU Space is initially focused on adventurers, repeat private spaceflight participants, and those taking a “honeymoon” to the next level.
Fastest path
Lunar tourism is viewed by the group as the best economic wedge that will spin up the lunar economy, leading to the fastest path for humanity becoming interplanetary.
At 21, Skyler founded GRU Space, fundraised from investors behind SpaceX & Anduril. He was accepted into Y Combinator as its youngest space solo founder the day before graduating a year early from UC Berkeley’s Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences program.
GRU Space is part of Y Combinator’s Winter 2026 batch, and is their first company focused on building human habitation on other terrestrial bodies.
GRU Space’s early team consists of former Colorado School of Mines professor Kevin Cannon, with Robert Lillis serving as an advisor. Lillis is the principal investigator of the recently lofted ESCAPADE Mars mission.
For more information on GRU Space, go to:
Image credit: U.S. State Department
Artemis Handshake! Hugo Costa, executive director for the Portuguese Space Agency, and U.S. Ambassador to Portugal John J. Arrigo pose for a photo on Jan. 12 during a ceremony in Lisbon, Portugal, to mark the country’s signing of the Artemis Accords.
Portugal is the latest nation to sign the Artemis Accords alongside 59 other countries to advancing principles for the “responsible” exploration of the Moon, Mars, and beyond with NASA.
Image credit: U.S. State Department
Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
A month-long program was organized by the China Astronaut Research and Training Center, one that involved a team of 28 astronauts.
The data collected during the CAVES training experience is helping to shape psychological support systems for astronauts undergoing lengthy space station missions as well as future crewed lunar landing missions, said Jiang Yuan, an instructor from the China Astronaut Research and Training Center.
Cooperative Adventure for Valuing and Exercising human behavior and performance Skills (CAVES) training is similar to those organized by the European Space Agency (ESA).
Isolation, confinement and high risk
The Chinese initiative made use of a mountainous area of southwest China’s Chongqing Municipality. The astronauts were divided into four groups, each taking turns to continuously stay in a cave with an average temperature of eight degree Celsius and humidity as high as 99 percent for six days and five nights.
Isolation, confinement and high risk were experienced by the groups, along with numerous psychological hurdles including fear of darkness and sensory deprivation.
Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Astronaut training
“Our cave training program is primarily designed to meet the requirements of our nation’s manned spaceflight development,” said Wu Bin, an expert in charge of astronaut training with the China Astronaut Research and Training Center.
“We utilize the natural cave environment to enhance astronauts’ capabilities in handling hazardous situations, team collaboration, scientific literacy and research skills, emergency decision-making, physical endurance, and psychological resilience in extreme conditions,” Wu told China Central Television (CCTV).
Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Unique challenges and difficulties
During the CAVES training, groups were placed in emergency scenarios like simulated medical evacuations to test their emergency response and collaborative problem-solving capabilities.
“Exploring four side caves, each with distinct topography and terrain, presents unique challenges and difficulties,” said astronaut Zhu Yangzhu. “Cave training hones one’s comprehensive qualities and capabilities, particularly teamwork skills. This holds significant implications for our future spaceflight missions, prompting me to contemplate how to effectively lead teams and manage crews aboard the space station,” Zhu said.
Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Teamwork
Astronaut Ye Guangfu, who previously received the ESA’s CAVES training, served as one of the commanders for the training in Chongqing.
“In terms of the training procedure, our support team reduced intervention in the activities of astronauts. This approach allows for greater autonomy in teamwork,” Ye said, “thereby further unlocking their potential to accomplish tasks in the cave.
Ye said a series of experimental tasks during the mission were incorporated to deepen understanding of the mutual influence between the cave environment and human behavior. “For support capabilities, we enhanced audio-visual communication methods, significantly improving our external communication support capacity.”
Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Jungle training
This training program also included two days of jungle training for each session.
Tian Liping from the China Astronaut Research and Training Center added: “The jungle training program consists of three main components: First, emergency contact: In emergency, the astronauts need to establish communication with the outside world using limited supplies and equipment. Second, sustaining life: In the event that rescue forces may be unable to arrive promptly, the astronauts need to do all they can to utilize acquired knowledge and skills to maintain survival with minimal tools. And third, safely navigating out of the jungle: Under the premise of guaranteeing safety, the astronauts need to go out of the jungle to rendezvous with search and rescue teams.”
Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Lunar lava tubes
In recent years, the China Astronaut Research and Training Center has carried out training methods and techniques in response to new mission requirements.
Analog missions like Switzerland’s Asclepios project also use subterranean tunnels to simulate lunar lava tubes, testing scientific operations and survival strategies in isolation.
Asclepios is an international non-profit with the goal of enabling analogue space missions, offered exclusively by students for students.
China’s cave training is linked to the country’s lunar ambitions, including crewed landings and a planned uncrewed Moon base by 2027.
For an informative CCTV video on CAVES training, go to:
Image credit: SpaceX
SpaceX is targeting Sunday, January 11 for Falcon 9’s launch of the Twilight mission from Space Launch Complex 4E (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.
The launch window opens at 5:19 a.m. Pacific Time. Following stage separation, the first stage will land on Landing Zone 4 at Vandenberg Space Force Base.
Twilight is a dedicated smallsat rideshare mission.
Pandora
Among the payloads is the University of Arizona’s Pandora mission for NASA. It is built to help scientists untangle the signals from the atmospheres of exoplanets – worlds beyond our solar system – and their stars.
Pandora spacecraft.
Image credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Conceptual Image Lab
Pandora is a small satellite that will provide in-depth study of at least 20 known planets orbiting distant stars in order to determine the composition of their atmospheres — especially the presence of hazes, clouds, and water.
Data from Pandora will establish a firm foundation for interpreting measurements by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope and future missions that will search for habitable worlds.
Go to this video on Pandora at:
Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
China reports progress in performing scientific data simulations for the soon-to-launch Chinese Space Station Telescope (CSST).
The space station-tended facility is also known as the Xuntian Space Telescope. Its launch by a Long March 5B rocket from China’s Wenchang center was last reported to have slipped to the end of this year.
Xuntian will co-orbit with China’s Tiangong space station. Doing so, that would permit docking to the space station where repairs and upgrades could be performed by astronauts, thereby extending the telescopes operational lifespan potentially for decades.
Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Overall performance
CSST reportedly offers a field of view 300 to 350 times larger than the NASA Hubble Space Telescope.
It is expected to facilitate major scientific discoveries across various astrophysical fields, including cosmology, the study of galaxies, the Milky Way, stars and planets, according to the National Astronomical Observatories under the Chinese Academy of Sciences (NAOC), which led the comprehensive evaluation of the telescope’s overall performance.
According to papers just published in the journal Research in Astronomy and Astrophysics, the CSST simulation work marks a crucial step in preparing for the country’s flagship space astronomy facility.
Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
The collection of papers spotlight mock observations for the Chinese Space Station Survey Telescope.
Flagship space-based observatory
The CSST is considered a flagship space-based observatory. Its main survey camera is designed to conduct high spatial resolution near-ultraviolet to near-infrared imaging and low-resolution spectroscopic surveys.
CSST is a two-meter aperture astronomical space telescope, equipped with multiple back-end scientific instruments.
To maximize the scientific output of CSST, Chinese researchers have developed a comprehensive, high-fidelity simulation pipeline for reproducing both imaging and spectroscopic observations.
Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Exoplanet research
As noted in one paper, the Cool Planet Imaging Coronagraph (CPI-C) aboard the CSST “represents a major advancement in exoplanet research” and is set to make “significant contributions to our understanding of exoplanets in the Milky Way.”
To gain access to the research papers, go to “Special Issue: Mock Observations for the Chinese Space Station Survey Telescope” at:
https://www.raa-journal.org/issues/all/2026/v26n2/
Also, go to this newly released China Central Television (CCTV) video focused on the Chinese Space Station Telescope at:
https://www.facebook.com/reel/1470954067930276
Image credit: China Media Group
Image credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls
Moon boots and Mars boots. Anyway you look at it there are a lot of NASA shoes still to drop.
One of those in perpetual déjà vu status is flinging off Mars select specimens from that distant orb, an endeavor viewed as a U.S. high priority.
However, there’s also been a recurrent whirlwind of fall out about the Mars Sample Return (MSR) endeavor. Is it too costly, too far in the future, too debatable?
Image credit: NASA
In a nutshell, here’s the extraterrestrial angst.
“The Chinese may well beat the U.S. with a grab sample,” explains one Mars expert.
For details, go to my new Space.com story – “Winning the Red Planet race: Returning Mars samples before China should be a top US priority, experts say” – at:
Mars Sample Return program artwork depicts rocketing collected off the Red Planet specimens for eventual return to Earth.
Image credit: NASA
The existing NASA/European Space Agency effort to establish a Mars Sample Return program is slated to be discontinued.
That’s the word according to the Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2026. It calls for an overall NASA budget figure of $24.44 billion and change.
As noted in a section on Mars Future Missions: “As proposed in the budget, the agreement does not support the existing Mars Sample Return (MSR) program.”
However, the technological capabilities being developed in the MSR program, the Act explains, “are not only critical to the success of future science missions but also to human exploration of the Moon and Mars.”
NASA codes to play nice with each other?
The agreement does request $110 million for NASA’s Mars Future Missions program.
Image credit: NASA
That program is to include existing MSR efforts, supports radar, spectroscopy, entry, descent, and landing systems, and “translational precursor technologies that will enable science missions for the next decade, including lunar and Mars missions.”
The Act explains that NASA shall coordinate efforts between the space agency’s Science Mission Directorate (SMD) and its Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate (ESDMD).
NASA’s ESDMD defines and manages systems development for programs critical to NASA’s Artemis program and planning for the space agency’s Moon to Mars exploration approach.
For a look at the Act, go to:
Also, go to this review at:
https://www.appropriations.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/fy26_cjs_conference_bill_summarypdf.pdf
Depiction of Chang’e-7 lunar mission.
Image credit: China Media Group
China’s next exploratory probe of the Moon is to depart this year. It is a mission that begins to set the stage for that country’s multi-phased lunar outpost.
The Chang’e-7 mission is on tap to reconnoiter the Moon’s south pole, making use of an orbiter, lander, rover, and a water-seeking, well-instrumented lunar hopper.
“The Chinese will be ahead of everyone else by at least one year, but probably several years,” explains one space scientist.
Candidate landing region of China’s Chang’e-7 lunar lander.
Image credit: Yang Liu/Wang C. et al.
Research station
This upcoming Moon trek will set in motion work on a China/Russia collaboration in establishing a multi-phased International Lunar Research Station (ILRS).
For details about what’s ahead, go to my new Space.com story – “China’s next Moonshot: Chang’e 7 could search the lunar south pole for water this year” – at:
Image credit: NASA
“How do you get to Mars when the launch vehicle is not necessarily going to Mars?”
There is a loop de loop space saga underway. It is a celestial long and winding road that may also have consequences for future settlers firmly planted on the Red Planet.
The Mars-bound ESCAPADE twins were lofted November 13 by the Blue Origin New Glenn 2 launcher from Cape Canaveral, Florida. But the dual craft weren’t placed on your standard operating procedure of a route to reach the Red Planet.
The long and winding road to the Red Planet by the twin ESCAPDE spacecraft.
Image credit: Advanced Space
Space loitering, kidney bean paths, gravity assists, hyperbolic orbits and wide-open windows.
Enter the world of Jeffrey Parker, Chief Technology Officer at Advanced Space in Westminster, Colorado, the chief architect behind the ESCAPADE mission’s roundabout road trip to Mars.
Go to my new Space.com story – “Live long and loiter: Why NASA’s ESCAPADE probes will wait a year in space before heading to Mars” – at:
