New Year Edition
Friday-Monday
20 Dec 2024 – 6 Jan 2025

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Commercial Companies Preparing Lunar Landers for Launches Within 1-9 Months

 ispace, inc. (Tokyo: 9348) announced 10 Mission 2 milestones planned January to June 2025 for Resilience lander with commercial payloads and NASA project (to collect / image regolith) at Mare Frigoris ~60.5° N; aboard the same Falcon 9 will be Firefly Aerospace Blue Ghost Mission 1, expecting touchdown ~March at Mare Crisium, 17° N, with 10 payloads from NASA, enterprise, academia; in February, Intuitive Machines (Nasdaq: LUNR) plans IM-2 launch via Falcon 9, arriving ~7 days later to Mons Mouton to prospect for water ice; Blue Origin Blue Moon Mark 1 lander set to launch NET March on Blue Origin New Glenn rocket, carrying 3,000 kg of payloads; Astrobotic Griffin Mission One, flying NET Fall 2025 to Nobile Region, ~85° S, will carry MoonBox™ payloads for individuals

Credits: (clockwise from upper left) ispace, SpaceX, Astrobotic, Intuitive Machines, NASA photo of Blue Origin lander, Firefly Aerospace

Friday / 13 December 2024

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ILOA-CSA Galaxy Forum China 2024 in Wenchang Impacts Global, Inter-Global Cooperation for Moon / Solar System

Experts from 13 countries at Galaxy Forum exchange visionary ideas on astronomy from the Moon, international human Moon landings, first women on the Moon, NewSpace commercial, lunar property rights, and planned international lunar base projects / payloads; Lunar talks included Wang Wei (CNSA, DSEL), Xuelei Chen (NAOC), Bernard Foing (ILEWG), Margarita Safonova (M. P. Birla, India), Jatan Mehta (Moon Monday), Boonrucksar Soonthornthum (NARIT), Mei Yang (CAST), Steve Durst (ILOA Hawai’i), many others; Galaxy Forum 2024 in Wenchang, near to Wenchang Space Launch Center and Wenchang Aerospace City, hopes to influence and advance robust, international, peaceful, scientific exploration of the Moon and complete Solar System in the 21st Century, with Aloha   

Credits: International Lunar Observatory Association, Chinese Society of Astronautics  

Tuesday / 3 December 2024

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Two Lunar Landers at Kennedy Space Center Awaiting Launch, Third Will Soon Arrive

JAXA / ispace lunar lander Mission 2 Resilience is now at KSC preparing to carry Tenacious micro rover / commercial payloads including a model house to Mare Figoris, 60.5° N, 4.6° W, is called “culmination of the Hakuto-R program; Firefly Aerospace Blue Ghost lander awaits launch from LC39A during 6-day window mid-January, carries 10 payloads including for NASA CLPS to Mare Crisium after 45-day journey with orbits of Earth and Moon; Intuitive Machines Nova-C lander Athena for IM-2 mission expected to arrive soon at KSC, will carry NASA CLPS payloads to Mouton Plateau (Leibnitz); all will launch NET January via SpaceX Falcon 9

Credits: JAXA / ispace, Firefly Aerospace, Intuitive Machines

Tuesday / 26 November 2024

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Multiple Events in Luxembourg, Include Moon Focus

Luxembourg, home of ISRU legal framework, hosts Moon Village Association (MVA) 8th Global Moon Village Workshop & Symposium 2-3 Dec co-hosted by Luxembourg Space Agency (LSA), MVA major annual forum for new ideas / progress reports about Moon exploration / utilization, lunar governance / industrialization / infrastructure / technologies; LSA also sponsors Luxembourg Space Week 2-5 Dec with NewSpace Europe 3 Dec for networking among start-ups / agencies / investors, IRG First European Interstellar Symposium 2-5 Dec featuring Pete Worden, ESA Space for Inspiration 4-5 Dec with Day 2 main session on Moon economy / logistics / communication / navigation

Credits: European Convention Center, Moon Village Association, Luxembourg Space Agency, Interstellar Research Group, European Space Agency

Friday / 22 November 2024

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Thailand GISTDA / NARIT Promote Moon Missions

Thailand Geo-Informatics and Space Technology Development Agency (GISTDA), organizes Space Week, participates in Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), counts 35,000 Thai businesses linked to space, signed Artemis Accords via director Pakorn Petchprayoon, signed MoU with muSpace / ispace for lunar collaboration; National Astronomical Research Institute of Thailand (NARIT) does astronomy / related sciences, educates, signed with Deep Space Exploration Laboratory (DSEL) / International Lunar Research Station (ILRS) via Executive Director Saran Poshyachinda for South Pole Moon base and precursors, will have 3 kg space weather monitor on Chang’E-7 orbiter NET 2026; Thai instrument or robot planned for Chang’E-8 lander NET 2028

Credits: GISTDA, NARIT, NASA

Friday / 15 November 2024

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Firefly Aerospace Aims for Moon Far Side

Firefly Aerospace, Texas, latest fundraising of US$175M, much from RPM Ventures, raises valuation to US$2B; majority owner is AE Industrial Partners; will launch via SpaceX Falcon 9 for first of 2 commercial Moon landings under NASA CLPS awards, delivering 10 instruments / experiments including LuSEE-Night, also Australian seismic SPIDER; after transport on 2,700 kg-payload-capacity Firefly Elytra Dark Transfer Vehicle in lunar orbit, lander Blue Ghost carries 150 kg to lunar surface, provides data / power / thermal resources for operations from Moon far side for 10+ days

Credits: Firefly Aerospace, Fleet Space, SpaceX, Marilyn Sargent/Berkeley Lab

Tuesday / 5 November 2024

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NASA Names New Possible Artemis Landing Sites, Reduces Choices from 13 to 9

NASA updated landing sites for Artemis III in heavily cratered, mountainous Lunar South Pole region; #1 consideration is Astronaut safety, then science potential, launch window, surface, seismic stability, Earth communication, lighting, combined capabilities of rocket / Orion spacecraft / SpaceX Starship Human Landing System; each location available for only part of 6-day mission so flexibility critical; permanently shadowed South Pole areas can preserve water; NASA will hold conferences / workshops to gather data; Malapert Massif ~5,000 m has perpetual sunlight, descends ~8,000 m into permanently shadowed regions; Mons Mouton Plateau wide / flat, 5,000-6,000 m, has perpetual sunlight

Credits: NASA

Tuesday / 29 October 2024

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JAXA Certifies First New Astronauts in 13 Years, Will Participate in Artemis Mission

JAXA certifies 2 astronauts to take part in Artemis Moon mission; Ayu Yoneda completed medical doctor training in 2019, has been working as a surgeon, is the youngest JAXA astronaut at 29; Makoto Suwa, 46, is a businessman with a PhD in climate science from Duke, when in elementary school met Eugene Cernan; they were selected from 4,100+ applicants, have completed a year of basic training in Japan, will travel to NASA Johnson to continue training

Credits: Ayu Yoneda, Makoto Suwa, NASA, JAXA

Tuesday / 22 October 2024

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ISRO Aims to Confirm Lunar Water with Chandrayaan 4 / 5 Moon Landers

P Veeramuthuvel of ISRO reports Chandrayaan 4 to launch NET 2027-2028 for surface / sub-surface sample return, landing 85-90° S in region where permanently shadowed regions (PSRs) are hoped to harbor water ice, will need 2 launches / remote docking in orbit; Chandrayaan 5, ISRO-JAXA collaboration now called LUPEX flies NET 2028-2029, 6,000-kg lander taking rover precisely to 89.45° S / 222.85° E on ridge between Shackleton / de Gerlache craters near PSRs, similar to China Chang’E-7 / abandoned VIPER missions, surviving lunar night is core goal, likely to use same Americium-352 radioisotope heater units (RHUs) as Chandrayaan 3

Credits: Arizona State University, ISRO, JAXA, IAF

Friday / 11 October 2024

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Thomas Zurbuchen Urges NASA to Get in the Race, Lauds USA Public / Private Synergy

Zurbuchen, NASA head of science 2016-2022, oversaw 130 missions / 37 launches, founded CLPS program; published op-ed in Scientific American 1 Oct, notes 1960s space race triumph of USA over Soviets, urges similar effort now for “sustained long-term presence” on Moon because “whoever gets there first will set rules”; China has 4-for-4 success rate on landers, may interpret current “vague noninterference rules” to make “parts of the Moon … off-limits for anyone else”; Zurbuchen had “multiple meetings with Chinese leaders” during his NASA stint, knows union of American public / private “can accelerate and radically rethink space exploration”

Credits: Cory Huston/NASA, Thomas Zurbuchen, NASA