NASA orders the first parts for a Moon power tower called miniCAST

The stories

9 on this beat today.

Every story told the same way: what happened, who is involved, why it matters, how it works, the truth and the good news.

1. 01

   NASA orders the first parts for a Moon power tower called miniCAST

   3

   companies supplying NASA's first Moon power test

   a NASA centre called Marshall will assemble their parts [1]

   $10 billion

   the most NASA could order from 8 firms over 10 years

   being named wins no firm a mission yet [1]

   $1.3 billion

   for 6 launch and space transport orders

   two orders carry cargo NASA has not yet picked [2]

   What happened

   • NASA has begun buying parts for a power network on the Moon. [1]
   • On 7 November it named 3 companies to supply a test tower called miniCAST. [1][2]
   • MiniCAST, the Mini-Communications and Solar Tower, is NASA's first test of energy supply for crews at the Moon's south pole. [2]
   • It is part of Moon Base, NASA's plan for a lasting outpost there. [1]
   • MiniCAST combines 4 jobs: making power, storing it, charging by wireless and carrying communications. [1]
   • Machines landed separately on the Moon cannot do those jobs for one another. [1]
   • A rover would follow the tower's signal to a power source, then recharge over a plate on the ground. [1]
   • Honeybee Robotics, owned by Blue Origin, will supply the energy storage. [2] Redwire will generate the power, with roll-out solar panels. [2]
   • Yank Technologies will supply the wireless charging. [2]
   • Its recent wireless work aims to pass power without bare metal contacts, which Moon dust can foul. [1]
   • Redwire says its panels can pull back during landings and launches, to dodge kicked-up dust. [2]
   • Redwire's Mike Gold called Moon dust 'the number one enemy on the Moon'. [2]
   • A NASA centre called Marshall will assemble and test the parts. [1]
   • Dayna Ise, acting head of NASA's Moon Base utilities office, said it must be done with 'almost no human interaction'. [1]
   • NASA also named 8 firms that may compete for Moon deliveries over 10 years. [2] Being named wins none of them a mission yet. [1]
   • Those deliveries could reach up to $10 billion. [2] That is a ceiling on orders, not money spent. [2]
   • NASA also placed 6 orders for launches and space transport, worth about $1.3 billion. [1][2]

   Who is involved

   • Honeybee Robotics a robotics company owned by Blue Origin; it supplies miniCAST's energy storage
   • Redwire a space company; it supplies miniCAST's roll-out solar panels
   • Dayna Ise acting director of NASA's Moon Base utilities office; she set out miniCAST
   • Yank Technologies a company working on wireless power; it supplies miniCAST's charging hardware

   How it unfolded

   1. 7 Nov components ordered
   2. Early 2027 complete systems sought

   Why it matters

   NASA is moving from single missions to a connected network of transport, power and communications. [1]

   Crews at the south pole will need to generate, store and share a lot of energy. [2]

   How it works

   Engineers call a shared supply like this a utility: one system that many users plug into.

   Each machine landed alone has to make its own power. [1] MiniCAST lets rovers charge from one tower. [1]

   Seen it before

   A town with one water main saves every house from digging its own well.

   The truth

   • What is really going on NASA has started paying for electricity on the Moon: 3 companies got the first orders for a power tower called miniCAST. [1][2]
   • Why it works on people A figure of $10 billion sounds like money being spent, when it is only the most NASA could order. [2]
   • The only height in the reports, over 100 metres, belongs to a separate Honeybee design and not to miniCAST. [1]
   • Who gains Honeybee Robotics, Redwire and Yank Technologies — They get the first NASA orders for Moon power parts, ahead of a wider request for complete systems expected in early 2027. [1]
   • Who gains Northrop Grumman and ispace-U.S. — Both are new to NASA's pool of Moon delivery firms, so they can now compete for orders. [2]
   • Nobody knows yet

     How much power miniCAST will make, and how tall it will be.

     The awards so far cover only components, and neither report gives the tower a power output. [1][2]

   • Nobody knows yet

     How much of the $10 billion will ever be ordered.

     Being named makes 8 firms eligible to compete, and no firm has been given a specific mission. [1]

   What comes next

   NASA expects to ask for complete power systems in early 2027. [1]

1. 02

   Ukraine reaches for space defences

   What happened

   • The Guardian reports that Ukraine has run at least 3 tests of weapons to stop missiles above the atmosphere. [3]
   • Fedir Venislavskyi, a Ukrainian MP who leads a parliamentary security subcommittee, said Ukraine has 'demonstrated launches' of such systems. [3]
   • One threat is Russia's Oreshnik, a missile that climbs into near space and then releases several warheads. [3]
   • Russia's launch sites now lie beyond the range of Ukraine's longest missiles. [3]
   • On 15 August, 2 Flamingo missiles hit the Samara factory that makes Russia's Soyuz-2 rockets. [3]
   • Those rockets carry Rassvet, the satellite network Russia is building to replace Starlink. [3]
   • Starlink, the satellite internet service of US company SpaceX, cut its data speeds for Ukraine in recent weeks. [3]
   • Last month Ukraine and Danish firm GomSpace announced the launch of Obria Nano, its first test satellite. [3]

   Who is involved

   • Fedir Venislavskyi Ukrainian MP on a security subcommittee

   Why it matters

   Venislavskyi said lost links put Ukraine's military command at risk. [3]

   Victoria Samson of the Secure World Foundation, a space-safety group, says 'everyone now wants their own versions of Starlink'. [3]

   How it works

   Defence planners call this sovereign capability: owning a tool so no supplier can switch it off.

   Starlink's speed cut forced a rethink of relying on commercial satellite firms. [3] Ukraine now reportedly plans about 245 satellites of its own. [3]

   Seen it before

   A family with its own bike still gets to school when a neighbour stops giving lifts.

   The truth

   • The test claim rests on the Guardian's report and one Ukrainian MP. [3] The Guardian names no outside group confirming it. [3]
   • Who gains GomSpace, a Danish satellite company — It launched Ukraine's first test satellite with Ukraine, for a network reportedly planned at about 245 satellites. [3]
   • Who pays Ukraine's military — Lost satellite links put its command systems at risk, Venislavskyi says. [3]
   • Who pays Russia's Rassvet satellite network — The August strike at Samara hit the factory that makes the rockets carrying it. [3]
   • Nobody knows yet

     Whether Ukraine's tests hit anything.

     Venislavskyi speaks of 'demonstrated launches' and gives no results, and he says paying for production would be a significant issue. [3]

1. 03

   A Moon rover rebuilt from Mars spares

   What happened

   • NASA's PROMISE rover for the Moon will be built from spare parts and test models of its Mars rovers. [2]
   • Its starting point is MAGGIE, the copy of the Curiosity rover kept on Earth for tests. [1]
   • NASA science chief Nicky Fox said a review found Curiosity could carry on without it at low risk. [1]
   • PROMISE will also carry copies of the drill and tools from VIPER, a Moon rover NASA cancelled in 2024. [1]
   • NASA expects PROMISE to cost under $400 million, including the ride to the Moon. [2]
   • Blue Origin gets a $94 million base contract to land it, with a $140 million option. [2]
   • Moon Base manager Carlos Garcia-Galan said PROMISE was 'enabled by the fact that we saw the hardware in the garage'. [1]

   How it unfolded

   1. July 2024 NASA cancels VIPER
   2. Now VIPER's tools copied for PROMISE

   Why it matters

   A nuclear power source lets PROMISE survive the dark and study ground where sunlight never reaches. [1]

   How it works

   Engineers call its power plant a radioisotope generator: heat from radioactive metal is turned into electricity.

   PROMISE gets a spare generator, using fuel processed for NASA's Cassini probe. [1] NASA panellists said its reduced heat output still suits the rover. [1]

   Seen it before

   A torch with old batteries still works, only more dimly than when they were new.

   Why a nuclear battery fades on a schedule engineers can work out

   A radioactive metal gives off heat as it breaks down, and half of it is gone after a fixed time, so a craft's power can be planned years ahead.

   The twist

   Nobody can say when one atom of plutonium will break down. A whole lump of it fades on a schedule that can be written down years ahead.

   The picture

   % of the plutonium left

   Start100

   88 years50

   176 years25

   Step by step

   1. 1 Atoms of plutonium-238 break down one by one
   2. 2 Each break gives off a little heat
   3. 3 A generator turns that heat into electricity
   4. 4 Half the plutonium has gone after about 88 years
   5. 5 So the power falls along a known curve
   6. 6 Engineers switch off or swap parts to stay under it

   The same force, elsewhere today

   Where this chain is also running, in today's other stories.

   • A Moon rover rebuilt from Mars spares

     PROMISE will run on fuel first processed for NASA's Cassini probe, so its heat output has already fallen, and NASA says what is left still suits the rover.

   • Voyager 1 swaps parts to save power

     Its plutonium source loses about 4 watts every year, so engineers swapped 3 units for low-power backups to stay within what the generator still makes.

   Where you've seen this

   Dating old bones

   archaeologists measure how much radioactive carbon is left, and the half-life turns that amount into an age

   Medicines in the body

   a drug's level falls by half on a regular schedule, which sets how far apart doses can be

   The catch

   The schedule covers only the fuel. It gave no warning of Voyager 1's recent loss of contact.

   And the whole of it

   The people running Voyager 1 today did not choose its fuel. They work inside numbers set in the 1970s by people many of them never met. PROMISE's team is now setting the numbers for whoever runs that rover last.

   The truth

   • The under-$400 million figure is Garcia-Galan's own estimate. [1]
   • Who gains Blue Origin — It gets a $94 million base contract to land PROMISE, and its Honeybee unit shares the tower work. [2]
   • Who gains NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory — It will manage PROMISE, a mission built from spare parts and test models of its Mars rovers. [2]

1. 04

   Voyager 1 swaps parts to save power

   What happened

   • NASA engineers swapped 3 units on Voyager 1 for low-power backups, in a fix nicknamed the 'Big Bang'. [4]
   • Out went 2 heaters and an old 8-track tape recorder. [4]
   • Voyager 1 left Earth in 1977 and now flies through interstellar space. [4]
   • The swaps had to happen together, because those units also keep the craft warm. [4]
   • Voyager 1's plutonium power source loses about 4 watts every year. [4]
   • It now runs on a little over 200 watts, about what an electric blanket uses. [4]
   • Voyager 2 went through the same fix in August. [4]

   Why it matters

   Without the swap, NASA would have had to switch off another science instrument in 2027. [4]

   Voyager 1 flew with 10 instruments. [4] Universe Today names 2 still working. [4]

   How it works

   Engineers call this a power budget: every part is listed by how much electricity it draws.

   With about 4 watts fewer every year, NASA has to switch parts off or swap them. [4]

   Seen it before

   A phone on low battery dims its screen so it can last longer.

   Its plutonium source loses about 4 watts every year, so engineers swapped 3 units for low-power backups to stay within what the generator still makes.

   The idea, in story 03: Why a nuclear battery fades on a schedule engineers can work out →

   The truth

   • NASA's mission manager said the team was 'eager to understand what happened' in Voyager 1's recent silence. [4]
   • Who pays Voyager 1's science teams — A falling power supply has already taken instruments away, including one shut off in early 2026. [4]
   • Nobody knows yet

     What caused Voyager 1's recent loss of contact.

     NASA's mission manager called it the first time the craft had done 'something like this'. [4]

   Good news

   • The swap on Voyager 1, a craft launched in 1977, means NASA need not switch off another of its science instruments in 2027.
2. 05

   Neutrino test finds Einstein's rule holds

   What happened

   • A neutrino detector on the Mediterranean seabed has tested a founding rule of Einstein's relativity and found no crack. [5]
   • The rule says the laws of nature look the same whichever way you face and however fast you move. [5]
   • The detector, ORCA, sits about 2.4 km under the sea off Toulon, France. [5]
   • Neutrinos are nearly massless particles that barely interact with anything. [5]
   • ORCA used 5,828 neutrinos caught over about 17 months in 2020 and 2021. [5]
   • Some had crossed the whole 12,700 km width of the Earth. [5]
   • ORCA had only 6 detection units running at the time. [5] Today 44 are in the water, and 108 are planned by 2030. [5]
   • The results were published on 4 November. [5]

   Why it matters

   Any theory predicting a stronger break in the rule is ruled out, says co-author Lukas Hennig. [5]

   How it works

   Physicists call a result like this a limit: finding nothing still shows how small the effect must be.

   ORCA's neutrinos behaved as standard physics predicts. [5] So any break in the rule must be weaker than the limits the team set. [5]

   Seen it before

   If a kitchen scale shows no change, any change is smaller than its finest mark.

   The truth

   • Who pays Theorists of a broken Einstein rule — Models predicting a stronger break than ORCA's limits are now ruled out, co-author Lukas Hennig says. [5]
   • Nobody knows yet

     Whether Einstein's rule breaks at energies ORCA cannot reach.

     The team says neutrinos from distant cosmic sources are the best test, and its search at the ARCA detector is still to come. [5]

   Good news

   • A neutrino detector with only 6 of its planned 108 units set limits competitive with far larger experiments, one of which used 12 years of data.

   What comes next

   The team plans to repeat the search with ARCA, ORCA's sister detector off Sicily. [5]

3. 06

   A robot will map a Moon cave

   What happened

   • NASA has picked a mission called GIMLI to study a pit on the Moon called Marius Hills. [6]
   • The pit may be a skylight into a lava tube, a tunnel left behind by flowing lava. [6]
   • GIMLI will land beside the pit and will not go down into it. [6]
   • It is a joint effort of the Planetary Science Institute, NASA, Norway's space agency and Honeybee Robotics. [6]
   • It has no launch date yet. [6]

   Who is involved

   • Planetary Science Institute home of its lead scientist
   • NASA and Norway's space agency partners

   Why it matters

   Lava tubes could shield astronauts from radiation, tiny space rocks and the Moon's swings of heat and cold. [6]

   How it works

   Geophysicists call this a survey: reading what lies underground from the surface, without digging.

   GIMLI's radar, seismic sensors and gravity meter will map the hidden ground from beside the pit. [6]

   Seen it before

   Tapping a wall tells you where the hollow part is without opening it.

   The truth

   • GIMLI's leader, Nathaniel Putzig, says the south pole shows little sign of the volcanic ground that makes such tubes. [6]
   • Nobody knows yet

     When GIMLI will fly.

     The mission has no launch date yet. [6]

4. 07

   Old Mars lava flowed unusually easily

   What happened

   • Scientists used data from NASA's Perseverance rover to work out how runny lava was in a rock layer called Seitah. [7]
   • Seitah lies in Jezero Crater on Mars, and its rock was one of the rover's most unexpected finds. [7]
   • The team suggests the rock formed in a pond of lava, partly because the lava flowed so easily. [7]
   • It also found this older Jezero lava flowed more easily than younger Martian rock studied by the Spirit rover. [7]

   Why it matters

   Mars has lower gravity than Earth, thinner air and less gas in its crust. [7] Those differences change how lava flows. [7]

   How it works

   Geologists call a liquid's resistance to flowing its viscosity.

   The rover's chemistry data let the team calculate viscosity. [7] Low viscosity fits lava that spread out and pooled. [7]

   Seen it before

   Water spreads across a table much faster than honey does.

   The truth

   • The paper says 'we suggest', and the version online is an early copy that may still be edited. [7]
   • Nobody knows yet

     Whether lava really pooled at Seitah.

     The authors only suggest it, and they say lab studies of the rover's samples are still to come. [7]

   What comes next

   The team says laboratory studies of the rover's collected samples will give a key window on this. [7]

5. 08

   A puzzle in Ryugu's rock may be solved

   What happened

   • Researchers in Japan may have solved a puzzle in rock brought back from the asteroid Ryugu. [8]
   • Japan's Hayabusa 2 probe returned the sample in 2020. [8]
   • The rock seems to hold 2 parts that were changed by water in different conditions. [8]
   • Universe Today calls it highly improbable that one rock's interior was patchy like that. [8]
   • Using powerful X-ray machines in Japan, the team found a poorly ordered magnesium mineral called M-S-H. [8]
   • M-S-H can hold different ratios of magnesium to silicon under the same water conditions. [8]

   Why it matters

   Asteroids like Ryugu keep evidence from the early solar system, about 4.5 billion years ago. [8]

   Much of the fine-grained matter in similar asteroids could be the same mineral. [8]

   How it works

   Chemists call the changes water makes in rock aqueous alteration.

   M-S-H forms in one set of conditions, yet its make-up can vary. [8] So the mix in Ryugu may need no second kind of water. [8]

   Seen it before

   Squash can be mixed strong or weak, and it is still the same drink in the same glass.

   The truth

   • The idea assumes M-S-H formed first and changed into other minerals later. [8]
   • Nobody knows yet

     How common Ryugu's material is in other asteroids.

     The team examined Ryugu's sample, and it extends the idea to similar asteroids only as a possibility. [8]

6. 09

   Senate questions NASA's money nominees

   What happened

   • A US Senate committee will question 2 people chosen for top NASA jobs on Tuesday 10 November. [9]
   • Joshua Shoemaker is nominated as NASA's chief financial officer. [9] He was controller of the US Republican National Committee until March 2026. [9]
   • Robert Steinau is nominated as NASA's inspector general, its internal watchdog. [9] He is now NASA's assistant inspector general for investigations. [9]
   • Democrats will control both houses of the US Congress from 3 January 2027. [9]

   Who is involved

   • Joshua Shoemaker nominee for chief financial officer
   • Robert Steinau nominee for inspector general

   Why it matters

   SpacePolicyOnline lists passing spending bills or extending a stopgap past 11 December as work still to do. [9]

   How it works

   US law calls this advice and consent: the US Senate must approve some top jobs.

   Shoemaker and Steinau go before the US Senate Commerce Committee first, at 10:30 am Eastern on Tuesday. [9]

   Seen it before

   A head teacher may choose a new teacher, but the school's governors must agree first.

   The truth

   • SpacePolicyOnline's note on Shoemaker gives only that party post. [9]
   • Nobody knows yet

     What the change of control in the US Congress means for NASA.

     SpacePolicyOnline says the effect of the election on the remaining weeks of the current US Congress remains to be seen. [9]