NASA

NASA’s Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, has released its first open-source software, a peer review tool to facilitate more efficient and collaborative creation of systems applications, such as those used in its frontline government and commercial propulsion test work.

NASA has canceled plans to find a commercial partner to launch a robotic lunar rover and will instead pursue “alternative approaches” to fly the mission.

NASA is considering scaling back its activities on the International Space Station, according to multiple sources. The changes, which are being considered primarily due to shortfalls in the space station budget, include:

• Reducing the size of the crew complement of Crew Dragon missions from four to three, starting with Crew-12 in February 2026
• Extending the duration of space station missions from six to eight months
• Canceling all upgrades to the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer science instrument attached to the station

The cuts are by no means a certainty. There was some confusion on Wednesday because, although the cuts appear to align with the Trump administration's goals, they were not being considered at the request of Trump space officials or in response to the budget release. Rather, they were made at the programmatic level.

None of these decisions are final, and may reflect the fact that NASA at present is operating under an acting administrator. The decision to fly fewer than a full complement of astronauts is not consistent, for example, with the goals of the Trump White House nominee to lead NASA, Jared Isaacman.

A couple of weeks ago, ground teams at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida removed one of the four main engines from the Space Launch System rocket slated to send four astronauts on a voyage around the Moon next year.

NASA officials ordered the removal of one of the massive rocket's RS-25 main engines after discovering a hydraulic leak on the engine's main oxidizer valve actuator, which controls the flow of super-cold liquid oxygen propellant into the engine's main combustion chamber, an agency spokesperson told Ars.

This is the first time NASA has replaced a main engine on the SLS core stage. The space agency earmarked individual RS-25 engines for the first four flights of the Space Launch System rocket a decade ago. Those assignments were locked in until now.

Artemis II is scheduled for launch in early 2026. The schedule is primarily driven by the readiness of the Orion spacecraft. "The replacement does not affect the mission timeline, and the engine with the leak will be repaired for a future flight," the NASA spokesperson said.

The Planetary Society is attempting to rustle up support for NASA after the remarkable message sent by President Trump’s budget.

Whether it helps depends a lot on your rep, but they’ve made it pretty straightforward to call or send a note in support of NASA’s mission.

In an April 24 email to Goddard employees, Makenzie Lystrup, director of Goddard Space Flight Center, said that the lease the agency has for office space in a Columbia University building will end May 31. Those offices host the Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS), part of Goddard’s Earth science division.

Lystrup said the decision to terminate the lease was linked to ongoing reviews by the current administration of all government leases, but did not give further details on the decision, including whether it was made by NASA or outside the agency, such as the Department of Government Efficiency.

While NASA is terminating the lease on the GISS offices, it is not closing the institute itself. Lystrup said in the email that it will help employees move “to remote work agreements in the short-term as the agency seeks a new, permanent space for the team.”

“And while the lease is ending, the Institute’s mission continues,” she added. “The work of the GISS team is considered critical for the Earth Science Division, particularly as the Division looks to the future of its modeling work and capabilities.”

However, agency sources said they are concerned that GISS could become a victim of budget cuts.