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FLIGHT OPPORTUNITIES COMMUNITY OF PRACTICE WEBINAR

Advancing Lunar Technologies Through Suborbital Flight Tests

Wednesday, Sept. 2, 2026 | 1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. ET

Speakers

  • Gary Lai, Co-Founder and the Chief Technology Officer, Interlune
  • Malay Shah, Aerospace Technology, Gas and Fluid Systems, NASA’s Kennedy Space Center

Abstract

In this webinar moderated by Flight Opportunities personnel, researchers will discuss ways they have leveraged suborbital flights to mature their technologies and build flight heritage ahead of missions sending those technologies to the Moon. Researchers from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center and Interlune will share an overview of the lunar technology they’ve developed: OSCAR, a tool to convert trash and human waste generated during spaceflight into useful gases, and Prospect Moon, a lunar resource prospecting tool. They will also discuss how Flight Opportunities, with its fly-fix-fly ethos, helped them test the technologies, and apply lessons from the tests to help prepare for lunar missions. Attendees will learn not only about these emerging technologies but also about how to think through a flight test plan and how to access testing on a range of suborbital vehicles to advance technologies for NASA’s next chapter of lunar exploration.

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+1 256-715-9946 | Phone Conference ID: 420 921 329#

Two researchers float in microgravity holding onto their experiment. A cylinder shaped device is inset in the left corner. A hand wearing a purple glove reaches for metal shavings in a small dish.
(lower left) NASA’s Orbital Syngas Commodity Augmentation Reactor, or OSCAR, is being prepared for suborbital flight testing at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. (upper left) A trash simulant, a mix of different types of material cut into tiny pieces, is weighed on a scale for use in OSCAR. (right) Interlune engineers Lexi Humann (left) and Alex Lewandowski (right) operate a prototype of Interlune’s soil-processing hardware on a parabolic flight.
NASA (left images) and Zero Gravity Corporation (right image)

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Community of Practice Webinars

Designed to distill and share the most important lessons learned by suborbital researchers, these webinars are chance to hear from subject matter experts on best practices for preparing for suborbital flight tests.

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