Friday / 19 April 2024

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Firefly Aerospace Set to Announce Blue Ghost Mission 1 Q3/Q4 Launch Window to Moon

Austin TX-based Firefly building on 2-m tall, 3.5-m diameter Blue Ghost lunar lander at newly-expanded 19,231 m2 work space under CLPS US$93.3M task order 19D; Blue Ghost M1 could be 4th Moon surface mission to ride on SpaceX Falcon 9 (Beresheet, Hakuto-R, IM-1) with 30-day launch window TBA in May; The 150-kg capacity lander is to carry 10 NASA payloads with 94-kg mass including regolith-repelling Electrodynamic Dust Shield (KSC), solar wind-Earth magnetic field investigation Lunar Environment Heliospheric X-ray Imager (Boston University), and Lunar GNSS Receiver Experiment (MSFC), first attempt to utilize GPS on Moon

Pictured (T-B) Firefly CEO Bill Weber, Advisory Board Member Jim Bridenstine, CFO Darren Ma
Credits: Firefly

Tuesday / 16 April 2024

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ispace Japan and USA, Luxembourg Subsidiaries Preparing for Second and Third Moon Landing Missions

Resilience lunar lander being readied at Tsukuba JAXA facility as micro rover (1 of 5 manifested payloads to be delivered on HAKUTO-R Mission 2 NET Q4 2024), progresses to flight model build phase following successful testing of qualification model by ispace Luxembourg affiliate; Micro rover is key equipment for fulfillment of NASA regolith purchase under which both ispace Japan and USA were awarded precedent-setting $5,000 contracts; ispace USA also partnering with Draper on APEX 1.0 lander under CLPS contract, and will work with Raytheon subsidiary Blue Canyon Technologies to deploy 2 ‘Venus class’ cis-lunar relay satellites during NET 2026 mission

Pictured: (L-R) ispace-U.S. CEO Ron Garan, ispace CEO Takeshi Hakamada, Ispace-Europe engineer; Credits: ispace

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 12-15 Apr 2024

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Japan Astronauts to Join 2 Artemis Lunar Surface Missions, Perhaps Becoming First Non-Americans on Moon

Building on prior agreements under which a Japan Astronaut will join a Gateway mission in lunar orbit (JAXA is to provide life support and power for I-Hab module and deliver supplies via HTV-XG spacecraft), USA and Japan are increasing lunar cooperation to include 2 opportunities for JAXA crewmembers to join Artemis Moon landings; In exchange Japan is to provide pressurized lunar rover designed to accommodate 2 astronauts for MSP sojourns up to 30 days on Artemis mission 7 and beyond over 10 year nominal lifespan

Pictured: (Clockwise) USA President Joe Biden, Japan Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, Japan Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Masahito Moriyama, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson
Credits: JAXA, NASA

Tuesday / 9 April 2024

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NASA Tasked with Development of Lunar Time Standard NLT 31 Dec 2026

As Moon mission cadence continues to grow, and in recognition of gravity-induced spacetime dilation resulting in 58.7-μs offset from Earth, White House Office of Science and Technology Policy is directing NASA (with Commerce, Defense, State, Transportation departments) to define and implement time reference frames for non-Earth celestial bodies, beginning with Coordinated Lunar Time (LTC) in support of Moon surface and cislunar activity; Elements to be considered by National Cislunar Science & Technology sub-Interagency Working Group (NASA + National Space Council) include: Traceability to UTC, Accuracy for PNT, Resilience when out of Earth contact, and Scalability for bodies beyond Earth-Moon system

Pictured: OSTP Director Arati Prabhakar; Credits: NASA, T. Pyle/Caltech/MIT/LIGO Lab

Wednesday / 3 April 2024

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China NewSpace Company Space Pioneer Prepares for Inaugural Launch of Reusable Tianlong-3

Space Pioneer (Beijing Tianbing Technology) working to complete build of first Tianlong-3 at factory in Suzhou following successful hot firing of all 9 first stage TH-12 engines powered by RP-1 / liquid oxygen (kerolox) propellant, together producing 7.6 MN thrust, slightly greater than SpaceX Falcon 9 (7.56 MN); Shipping to Wenchang Commercial Space Launch Site expected NET late April / early May for NET July launch; Tianlong-3 planned to provide 30 per year launch cadence with up to 10x first stage reuse; While Space Pioneer has not announced lunar mission plans to date, capacity of Tianlong-3 should be suitable for realization of first China domestic NewSpace Moon mission

Pictured: Space Pioneer CEO Kang Yonglai; Credits: Space Pioneer

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 29 Mar – 1 Apr 2024

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First Instruments Slated for Deployment on Lunar Surface by Artemis 3 Crew Announced

3 science payloads are approved to continue development targeting NET 2026 Artemis 3 human landing (final manifest will be fixed later): Lunar Environment Monitoring Station (LEMS), Lunar Effects on Agricultural Flora (LEAF), Lunar Dielectric Analyzer (LDA); Trio of instruments are intended to contribute to 3 of 7 objectives articulated in Artemis III Science Definition Team Report; LEMS (University of Maryland) seismometer to record MSP quakes; LEAF (Space Lab Technologies) will study germination and growth of Brassica rapa, Wolffia, Arabidopsis thaliana varieties; LDA (University of Tokyo) to measure regolith electrical fields / variance with temperature

Credits: NASA / JPL, UMBC, Quest Thermal, Space Lab Technologies

Friday / 29 March 2024

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SLIM Awakens for 3rd Lunar Day of Operations

JAXA team working at Sagamihara Campus SLIM control room are ebullient as their 2.4-m tall lunar lander reactivates yet again, enduring 2 cold nights on the Moon with temperatures below -130°C at mid-latitude landing site (-13.3160°, 25.2510°); Landscape imagery being taken via navigation camera currently amid high temperatures near 100°C with Sun relatively high overhead (necessary to power solar panels in off-nominal orientation); JAXA reports systems are mostly functioning aside from some temperature sensors and battery cells; Lunar day ends for SLIM on 30 March; SLIM team to present at Tanegashima Space Center open house 21 April

Credits: JAXA

Tuesday / 26 March 2024

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Chandrayaan-3 Landing Site Now Officially Designated Statio Shiv Shakti by International Astronomical Union

IAU Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature on 19 March declares area around Vikram lander between Manzinus C and Simpelius N craters (-69.37°, 32.32°) Statio Shiv Shakti (Shiva Shakti Station) after Hindu deities which symbolize masculine and feminine energies in recognition of 4th national soft-landing on Moon; Chandrayaan-1 probe impact site ‘Jawahar Point’ and Chandrayaan-2 crash site ‘Tiranga’ have also been submitted to IAU; Shiva and Shakti are also invoked by Max Planck Institute astronomers for metal-poor 12-13 billion year old stellar streams thought to be proto-galactic fragments observed by Gaia Space Observatory and Sloan Digital Sky Survey; Rubin crater between Amundsen and Demonax B crater (-82.82°, 77.65°) was also named on 19 March after the American astronomer Vera Rubin

Credits: Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature, USGS, IAU

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 22-25 March 2024

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Strong Focus on Malapert Mountain at 2024 LPSC Reflects Growing Interest in Strategic Lunar Area

Numerous researchers have converged to analyze the structure, content and relative advantages of landing human and robotic mission on Malapert Massif as highlighted by studies presented at the 55th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference held in The Woodlands, Texas; Geological EVA Science Among Impact Craters and Permanently Shadowed Regions Near a Summit Ridge on Malapert Massif proposes 3 EVA traverses emanating from 85.964°S, 357.681°E landing site to collect samples from 50-35K regolith; High Resolution Geomorphic Map provides detailed crater morphology / PSR locations; Hazard Mapping of the Southern Lunar Surface: Candidate Artemis Landing Site notes maximum average temp of 193.3K / minimum 46.4K

Pictured: Malapert Massif Sun visibility (L) Malapert Massif Earth visibility (R)
Credits: NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University; Bourque, M. et al. (2024) LPSC 55 Abs #2493; Iqbal, W. et al. (2024) LPSC 55 Abs #1009; Kring, D. et al (2024) LPSC 55 Abs #2078

Friday / 22 March 2024

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JAXA and Intuitive Machines Anticipate Possible SLIM and Odysseus Awakenings

2 landers currently in hibernation mode on lunar surface may reactivate in the coming days; JAXA SLIM resting within mid-latitude Mare Nectaris near Shioli crater (13.31°S, 25.25°E) may resume operations for a 3rd time since 19 Jan landing however JAXA operators caution repeated severe temperature cycles affect likelihood of late March restart; Intuitive Machines VP Trent Martin confirmed Odysseus (80.13°S, 1.44°E) in sunlight at 24th AAS Goddard Space Science Symposium currently ongoing and that IM is listening for signal; IM cash on hand stands at US$54.6M with $268.6M contract backlog

Credits: JAXA, IM