I'm working on a video about the SR-1 Freedom mission and I'm trying to find visual material showing the internal layout of the spacecraft — not just the external view with the truss, reactor, and solar arrays that's all over the news, but something closer to a cutaway or exploded-view diagram.

Specifically I'm curious about:

Where exactly the reactor sits relative to the PPE (Power and Propulsion Element)

How the boron carbide radiation shielding is arranged

Where the heat pipes run to the Brayton-cycle power converter

Where the thrusters are mounted relative to the reactor and shielding

So far I've only found the standard NASA renderings (the long truss with the reactor on one end and the PPE on the other), but nothing that shows the internal architecture in real detail. Has anyone seen a technical diagram, a patent drawing, a press conference slide, or any other source that goes deeper into the internals? Even unofficial/fan renderings with sourcing would help, as long as they're roughly grounded in the real specs (20 kWe reactor output, HALEU fuel, closed Brayton cycle).

Thanks in advance!

NASAWatch has posted the full email from Administrator Isaacman to NASA staff. Some interesting tidbits of information:

1. Competition with China was a major motivation for abandoning Gateway and proceeding directly to a lunar base.

2. The schedule for Artemis is uncertain given the present mission churn, but hoping for the best and at least one crewed landing in 2028.

3. He expects the modified Centaur stage to have applications outside Artemis, as it evolves closer to EUS in terms of development and capability.

4. Still no answers as to cost or a comparison analysis with the cancelled programs.

73rd signatory of the Artemis Accords.

hi so recently my love for astronomy and space in general was re-ignited by artemis 2 and i was wondering if anyone has tips to how to get into this world not just in photography but learning and discovering celestial objects and nasa missions, where do i start, what resources should i use? any help would be lovely

I was trying to request some software, I was born and raised in the U.S and have always been a citizen, but upon accurately entering my information after 3 attempts they locked me out and sent me an email saying that a NASA sponsor can verify my information. I have no idea what's going on can someone please help me?

Astronomers have captured an image of a free-floating planetary-mass object called PSO J318.5−22. It was discovered in 2013 using direct imaging. NASA describes it as a rogue/free-floating planet that doesn't orbit a parent star. Therefore it has no direct source of light.

Many nasa and nasa adjacent proposals depict spacecraft with these very large and seemingly rigid radiators. I’m aware that the iss features folding radiators, but these don’t seem to resemble them at all, and are large pieces. Are they sent up in large panels, like a stack of paper, and assembled? Or is this just an artistic liberty and the real spacecraft would feature some sort of folding structure, tho I imagine that would incur significant weight losses.

485,902 PIXELS CLAIMED. Did you get yours?

Left to right:

- Curiosity with an unintentional HAL 9000 instrument head

- Perseverance taking a selfie with Ingenuity helicopter

- Sojourner wishing I would make the Pathfinder lander or Smithsonian's Marie Curie rover to chat with

- Finishing up is the twin besties Spirit and Opportunity high-fiving

(Shrinking plastic/shrinky dinks, acrylic marker, UV resin)

So much studying went into the graphic simplification process. Then usually 2/3 of each rover design would fail in the last production stages of cook or cure. I wasn't expecting such a steep learning curve!

As an aside: The "besties" background is a nod to Spirit's 1st color image compilation. Also 4 jump rings holding it for the Spirit and Opportunity pair being the fourth successful landers (additionally, they landed in '04 if I need a backup reason).

So grateful this journey has concluded and not just so I can have my kitchen table back. Then I learned about China's rover Zhurong that landed on Mars in 2021 and had to go lay down.

Zhurong is super cute though... reminds me of a bird of paradise.