An old NASA satellite is expected to fall to Earth this week, but experts tracking the spacecraft say chances are low it will pose any danger.

As NASA builds a blueprint for human exploration throughout the solar system for the benefit of humanity, the agency released Tuesday the outcomes from its first Architecture Concept Review, a robust analysis process designed to align NASA's moon to Mars exploration strategy and codify the supporting architecture.

"Our first Architecture Concept Review is a milestone that will help our moon to Mars strategy unfold through the objectives in missions both near and long term," said NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy. "We're aligned with partners toward a future of expanded economic opportunity, scientific discovery, and greater activity on and around the moon, and with limitless possibilities deeper in the solar system."

NASA's Architecture Definition Document written for highly technical audiences, and an associated executive summary, provide a deep dive into NASA's moon to Mars architecture approach and development process. Six supporting white papers also released address frequently discussed exploration architecture topics.

"NASA now has a goal-based foundation upon which to build our current and future exploration plans," said Cathy Koerner, deputy associate administrator for the Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington.

A vital subsystem for NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope was recently delivered to Ball Aerospace in Boulder, Colorado, and installed in the spacecraft's Wide Field Instrument (WFI). Called the Simplified Relative Calibration System (sRCS), this component will allow astronomers to measure the total light output of cosmic objects like galaxies and supernovae with extreme accuracy. When Roman launches by May 2027, scientists will use this data to unravel the secrets of dark energy and dark matter, discover exoplanets, and explore many topics in infrared astrophysics.

"Without this calibration tool, we wouldn't be able to gather accurate enough measurements to achieve the next-level science Roman is designed to do," said Joshua Schlieder, a research astrophysicist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.

Space travel has brought us to our next-door neighbor, the moon, and to the depths of our larger solar community inhabited by giants such as Saturn and Jupiter.

In 1982, Voyager 2 whisked past Uranus closer than any other spacecraft has since, and now is sailing—46 years after its launch—through the constellation of Pavo, some 179 light years from Earth.

But there have been few comparable satellite missions in recent years. Cost is the main obstacle, but time frame is also a factor. The design for such long journeys takes years to calculate, and planning and construction of a space vehicle would take about a decade. Factoring in the time a satellite would require to reach distant targets means our next peek into the stars will likely not come any time soon.

A team of scientists led by Slava Turyshev of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory at the California Institute of Technology, which launched the Voyager satellites back in 1977, is anxious to get space exploration back on track. The team proposes a novel means of travel that could get us to the stars faster and cheaper.