NASA Will Announce New Space Technology Private Partnerships

NASA has announced that administrator Jim Bridenstine will deliver a keynote address at the virtual fall Lunar Surface Innovation Consortium meeting on Wednesday, October 14. The event is co-hosted by the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory and Arizona State University. The entire event will be streamed live on NASA television and via the NASA website.

During the event, Bridenstine will talk about the NASA Artemis program that will send humans back to the moon for the first time since the Apollo era. The administrator will also announce NASA's latest Tipping Point selections and their potential impact on moon exploration during the event.

The Tipping Point program was first announced in January of this year and sought industry-developed technologies that would help foster commercial space capabilities and benefit future NASA missions. Similar programs have resulted in the success of companies like SpaceX and Boeing in working towards being able to put astronauts into space from American soil.

During the event, NASA officials will update the Lunar Surface Innovation Initiative operating in conjunction with the Applied Physics Laboratory. The initiative aims to seek help from academia, industry, nonprofits, and the government to shape future space technologies to explore the moon in innovative ways.

The Lunar Surface Innovation Consortium fall meeting will be held on October 14 through the 15th. NASA intends to send the first humans back to the moon's surface in 2024 and sustain a presence there by the end of the decade. Significant assistance from industry is helping to make the mission possible. Anyone wanting to watch the event can do so on the NASA website here.