Interplanetary pulse: FY25’s pilot project highlights

Humanity continues to advance the frontiers of space exploration, with the journey to Mars representing the most ambitious step yet in the pursuit of scientific discovery. Recognizing that space environments parallel isolated, confined, and extreme (ICE) settings on Earth, the Earth Analogs Project examines lessons from analogous contexts such as military submarines, Antarctic research stations, and correctional systems.

This year, an interdisciplinary team of graduate researchers conducted an in-depth literature review to analyze the social, behavioral, and environmental factors influencing human resilience in ICE environments. The resulting annotated bibliography provides a foundation for identifying emerging complexities within social systems related to these settings.

The project has been selected for poster presentation at the 2025 COSPAR Conference, with findings to be disseminated in an upcoming white paper. In addition, the team recently had a journal article accepted by the Analog Astronaut Research Journal.. Looking ahead, the project will continue to host workshops to encourage interdisciplinary dialogue and inform the planning of long-duration human space missions.

In spring 2025, the Global Heat Map of Space Activities project achieved significant enhancements to its dashboard, including conversion to a locally deployable application and a database expansion to over 17,000 news articles. A newly integrated LLM-driven “tour” feature now enables users to generate tailored summaries based on specific themes and keywords within the dataset.

In the latter half of the semester, the team conducted customer discovery initiatives to gather feedback on how the dashboard can support businesses and entrepreneurs in navigating the dynamic global space sector. The project continues to welcome input from organizations interested in contributing to its ongoing development.

The "Lessons From The Past" project explores what it truly means for humanity to become interplanetary, not just through technology, but by examining our ethics, history, and the arts. Through conversations with over 20 astronauts, scientists, philosophers, and artists, the project examines how different forms of exploration shape our understanding of what it means to be human as we look beyond Earth.

After premiering a teaser at the 2025 Arizona Space Summit, the project moved into post-production for a 30-minute film, "Becoming Interplanetary," slated for release in Fall 2025. This film is designed as a platform for public reflection and deeper dialogue by engaging audiences in story-driven, interdisciplinary ways. Collaborators include Chris Hadfield, ASU’s Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts, and AstroForge.

LunarMVI has achieved significant growth over the past year. Undergraduate researchers have produced ten technical reports, nine of which are already published on the website, addressing critical topics such as static regolith mitigation, lunar night energy storage, and in-situ resource utilization for lunar base development.

This progress has been supported by mentorship from leading industry professionals at Astroscale U.S., Cislune, MilkyWayEconomy, iBoss, and Astralytical Consulting. Looking forward, the team intends to engage additional engineering experts to further strengthen research in lunar infrastructure. LunarMVI remains committed to fostering a resilient, inclusive interplanetary future and advancing a space sector that welcomes individuals from all backgrounds and disciplines.

LunaRights advances sustainable and peaceful lunar exploration by systematically mapping property rights and cataloging known resources on the Moon.OrbitScape is spearheading developments in interplanetary travel by providing robust tools for mapping cislunar space and visualizing intricate mission trajectories.

Over the past year, both platforms have made considerable strides. OrbitScape now supports the import of custom mission profiles, offers expanded project management features, and enables the integration of interactive 3D visualizations into external websites. LunaRights has further enhanced its site mapping, resource analysis, and introduced AI-driven tools for policy research. Both solutions are now commercially available to industry and research partners. The OrbitScape team will share the latest developments at the upcoming International Astronautical Congress (IAC) in Sydney, an event focused on sustainable and resilient space activities.

Project ENTERPRISE (Enhanced Networks of Trusted Exploration and Reliability with Predictive Resilient Intelligent Systems for Exploration) is advancing the integration of AI and robotic technologies as reliable partners alongside humans in space exploration. In its inaugural year, the project established a comprehensive multidisciplinary roadmap, anchored by the “Building Practical AI-Robotic Systems for Deeper Space Exploration” virtual workshop.

Key achievements include the publication of a foundational position paper, direct workshop support from NASA JPL, newly formed academic and industry collaborations, and substantive progress in understanding trust, adaptability, and resilience in human-robot teams. The project benefits from active involvement of students through ASU’s Undergraduate Research Scholars Program and lays critical groundwork for the next generation of space missions.

The Revolutionizing Power Beaming team is advancing wireless power transfer technologies to meet emerging energy demands in both space and terrestrial applications. In partnership with the Interplanetary Laboratory, the team is developing an innovative in-space payload designed to transform power delivery architectures for satellites and surface systems.

Ongoing efforts emphasize both technical innovation and the pursuit of strategic partnerships to enable future commercialization. The team continues to seek additional collaborators and stakeholders to support the initiative as development progresses.

Space for Humans advances an inclusive vision for space exploration by harnessing technology and fostering public dialogue to bridge Earth and space while examining the societal implications of an expanding space economy.

The project's YouTube channel has grown to over 1,600 subscribers and has accumulated more than 2,800 watch hours. Recent features include explorations of epigenetics in long-duration spaceflight (featuring Forrest Valkai), a profile of Nigeria’s space agency, and discussions on motivations for space travel amid terrestrial challenges. The team has also organized in-person events with social media influencers to examine the role of digital platforms in science education. Collectively, these initiatives encourage critical reflection on humanity’s evolving role in shaping the future of space exploration.

The Space Travelers Archive is dedicated to expanding knowledge of psychological resilience during spaceflight by investigating how self-perception evolves throughout off-world missions. In collaboration with social scientists, the team has designed a comprehensive interview protocol and commenced the collection of firsthand accounts, beginning with Dr. Sian Proctor, the first African American woman to pilot a  commercial space mission.

Additional astronaut contributors have been confirmed, and strategies are in development to secure further financial support for the archive. The project seeks to illuminate the processes by which individuals adapt, cope, and derive meaning in the demanding environments of space.

The 2025 SpaceHACK for Sustainability brought together students from 15 countries through five in-person events hosted at leading partner universities: Arizona State University, CY Cergy Paris, University of Toronto, Escuela Superior Politécnica del Litoral (ESPOL), and Universidad de Especialidades Espíritu Santo (UUES). Out of 450 registrants, 281 undergraduate and graduate students fully participated.

Participants engaged with three challenge tracks: food insecurity, sustainable cities, and climate-driven migration, addressing real-world problems through data-driven solutions. Winning teams developed urban agriculture initiatives (UUES), conducted cultural equity analyses (CY Cergy Paris and University of Toronto), and designed approaches for climate-driven migration and early warning systems (CY Cergy Paris).

SpaceHACK 2025 outcomes include integration of the work into academic curricula, development of honors theses, and journal article submissions. The program exemplifies the role of data in advancing equity, sustainability, and international collaboration. For a full recap, see the event video: https://youtu.be/C8JJvWCVpyw