Category Archives: Advanced Technology

Friday / 14 Aug 2020

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NASA SPLICE To Enable Successful Landings On The Moon, Mars And SSSBs

Safe and Precise Landing Integrated Capabilities Evolution (SPLICE) Advances Through JSC Design And Testing Of Descent & Landing Computer, Responsible For Calculating Relative Position Within 100 Meters; Langley Research Center Designing Navigation Doppler Lidar, Used To Determine Altitude & Descent Speed, Will Fly On 2 Commercial Landers 2021 (Likely Intuitive Machines And Astrobotic); GSFC Designing Hazard Detection Lidar, Capable Of 3-D Imaging From 500 Meters; Terrain Relative Navigation Is To Analyze Surface Features, Matching Live Feed To Known Topography, Under Development By JPL With Draper Providing Algorithmic Software

Pictured: Langley Researcher Aram Gragossian Credits: NASA

Tuesday / 11 Aug 2020

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Lunar Laser Ranging  (LLR) Techniques Advance With First 2-Way Infrared Signals Between NASA LRO + Grasse Station

Goddard Space Flight Center And University Côte d’Azur Collaboration Results In First Infrared Photons (~200 Out Of Tens Of Thousands) Received Back From LRO Reflector (15 × 18 × 5 cm, Traveling ~1.6 km Per Second); LRO Array And Other LLR Important For Understanding Lunar Dust / Degradation Of Apollo & Lunokhod Surface Reflectors, Refining Lunar Distance & Orientation, ‘With Implications For Both Lunar Interior Properties And For Astrophysics And Fundamental Physics’; New LLR Opportunities To Come From Future Commercial And Human Moon Landings

Pictured: Researchers from this collaboration; Credits: GSFC, NASA, Université Côte d’Azur, Observatoire de la Côte d’Azur, IRD, Géoazur, CNRS-INSU, CNES, ANR, MIT EAPS, et al

Tuesday / 28 July 2020

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Nuclear Power R&D Sought From USA Private Sector To Support Sustainable Moon-Mars Settlements

Dept Of Energy (DoE) Solicits Ideas For Off-Earth Fission Surface Power System Which Will Be Evaluated By Idaho National Lab & NASA; 2-Phase Plan Could See 10-kW Artemis Test Reactor, Flight System + Lander On Moon 2026; Operating Without Need For Water Cooling Is Major Advantage Of Micro-Reactors; Power Source Independent Of Sun To Survive Lunar Night & Establish Deep-Space Settlements Is Vital; ‘Kilopower‘ Reactor In Development With DoE Since 2012; After Nuclear Fusion & Lunar Mining Are Established, Helium-3 Utilization Could Be Next

Pictured: Idaho National Lab at bottom right; Credits: NASA, Pat Rawlings, Office of Enterprise Assessments, US DoE

Friday / 24 July 2020

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ISRO Releasing Chandrayaan-2 Data Globally In October, Preparing Chandrayaan-3 For 2021 Launch

Chand-2 Orbiter 8 Payloads Performing Nominally In 100-km Lunar Polar Orbit, Now >1 Year Into Mission As Of 22 July; ISRO Planning To Share Internationally: Highest-Res 3D Moon Map, Science Data Sets On Surface Water-Ice And Minerals / Metals, Argon-40, Exosphere, Solar X-rays; ISRO Chair K. Sivan States Chand-2 Mission “Has Achieved 98% Of Its Objectives”; Chand-3 Lander + Rover Estimated Cost ~US$91.2M, Will Utilize Chand-2 Orbiter, Launch To Moon South Pole Region 1st Half 2021

Credits: ISRO

Tuesday / 23 June 2020

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Revolutionary Aerospace Systems Concepts – Academic Linkage (RASC-AL) Competition Advances Artemis Lunar Exploration / Commerce

University Teams From Across USA Compete In NASA National Institute Of Aerospace Administered RASC-AL; Space Ideas Judged By Professionals From SpaceX, NASA, Blue Origin, Aerojet Rocketdyne; University Of Puerto Rico Wins South Pole Multi-Purpose Rover Category / Overall First Place With EMPRESS: Exploration Multi-Purpose Rover For Expanding Surface Science – Continuing Winning Streak From 2019; Commercial Cislunar Space Development Is New Category For 2020, Won By University Of Texas For Lunar Engraver; Top 2 Teams Secure Place At AIAA Hosted ASCEND 2020 Nov 16-18

Credits: NASA, NIA, UPR, UT, GIT, UM

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 29 May – 1 June 2020

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 Asteroid Day TV Hosts Globally Accessible Video Content Over Next Month

In Celebration Of 6th Asteroid Day Luxembourg-Based Asteroid Foundation To Share Media From BBC, ESA, ESO, TED, Discovery And Others June 1 – July 4 Featuring 24-hour Live Broadcast On 30 June, Official Asteroid Day By UN Resolution; Asteroids Capture Interest Not Only For Scientific Knowledge And Planetary Security, But Also For Resource Extraction Which Could Fund Exploration; Lunar Outpost May Provide Superior Vantage Point For NEO Detection, Which Founders (L-R) Danica Remy, Rusty Schweickart, Brian May, Grigorij Richters Hope To Increase To 100,000/Year, ‘100X’ Petition Signed By 50,000+ Including 125+ Astronauts

Credits: Asteroid Day, NASA, ESO

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 15-18 May 2020

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ESA Advancing Laser Powering Techniques For Exploration Of Permanently Shadowed Lunar Craters

PHILIP (Powering Rovers By High Intensity Laser Induction On Planets) Envisions Lander Situated Between Shackleton And de Gerlache Craters Near Moon South Pole Equipped With 500-watt IR Laser Supporting Remote Exploration Of Shadowed Areas In Which Solar Power Is Inaccessible By Directing Energy To Photovoltaic Module On 250-kg Rover; 10-month Study Conducted By Leonardo Company Of Italy And National Institute Of Research And Development For Optoelectronics Of Romania, Funded By ESA Discovery & Preparation Division

Image Credits: ESA, EADS, NASA

Tuesday / 28 April 2020

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SpaceBit Aims To Land “Arachnid-Like” Asagumo Rover Built On Modular 6U CubeSat Chassis

SpaceBit Of UK Reportedly Creating Redundant Designs Amid Global Supply Chain Uncertainty, Allowing Independent Assembly Of 1-1.3 kg Rover In USA, UK, Japan; Spacebit Mission One Striving To Meet Q3 2021 Maiden Launch Of ULA Vulcan Centaur / Astrobotic Peregrine Lander; Partnered With Yuzhnoye Design Office, Ecuadorian Space Agency, Dereum Labs Of Mexico; Pavlo Tanasyuk Signs Agreement At 3rd MVA Workshop & Symposium With Japan Company Dymon To Image Asagumo On Lunar Surface, Spacebit To Reciprocate With Picture Of Yaoki Rover

Credits: Spacebit, Astrobotic, ULA

Tuesday / 21 April 2020

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American Astronautical Society Hosts Streaming Thought Exchange On Lunar Habitation Realities

NASA Lunar Surface Innovation Initiative Lead (L-R) Niki Werkheiser Will Moderate Interactive Panel Envisioning ‘Technology For Sustainable Moon Operations’ Including Planetary Scientists Clive Neal Of Notre Dame And Rachel Klima Of Johns Hopkins; Moon-based Life Support, Social Organization, Infrastructure To Be Explored In Depth; Part Of Ongoing Hangout Series ‘Future In Space’, Online Participation Is Free And Open To Public, Opportunities For Question Submission To Expert Panel; Event Begins Thursday, 23 April At 15:00 EDT Accessible Via Youtube, Periscope, FaceBook And Twitch

Credits: AAS, NASA, JPL, JHUAPL

Friday / 3 April 2020

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Lunar Landers On Track For 2021, First USA Surface Missions Since 1972

CLPS Awardees Astrobotic (US$79.5M) And Intuitive Machines ($77M) Report Lander Development Schedule On Track For July 2021 Launch, While Timeline For Only 3 Out Of 13 NASA Payloads Can Currently Be Confirmed; Winners Of NASA 19C Task Order To Polar Regions Late 2022 Expected To Be Announced Soon; Competitors For 19C Include IM, SpaceX, Moon Express, Blue Origin, Sierra Nevada, Lockheed Martin, and Firefly Which Is Working With Israel Aerospace Industries On Genesis Lander (85-kg Payload Capacity) – An Advanced Version Of Beresheet 

Credits: Firefly, Astrobotic, IM