Category Archives: Advanced Technology

Friday / 6 Jan 2022

Posted on by

Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter Danuri Sending Awesome Earthrise Images Home While Preparing for Science Operations

From a 100-km circular polar orbit around the Moon, Danuri has an excellent vantage of Earth rising over the lunarscape which KARI team is observing with Lunar Terrain Imager (LUTI), 1 of 6 science payloads to be used for 1-year nominal science mission commencing February; KMAG (KPLO Magnetometer), Wide-Angle Polarimetric Camera (PolCam), KPLO Gamma-Ray Spectrometer (KGRS), Disruption Tolerant Network Experiment Payload (DTNPL) also developed by KARI; ShadowCam built by ASU for NASA, based on Narrow Angle Camera components of LROC on LRO with 200x sensitivity

Credits: KARI

Tuesday / 3 Jan 2022

Posted on by

ispace HAKUTO-R Mission 1 Lunar Lander on Stable Course to Moon as 3rd Trajectory Burn Approaches

~1,250,000 km from Earth, HAKUTO-R maintaining nominal trajectory on fuel efficient path to Moon following 2nd correction maneuver 2 Jan with 3rd possibly to be conducted as craft reaches farthest point of journey (1,400,000 km) NET 20 Jan; ‘Milestone 5’ to be reached at 1-month of operations date (Jan 11); Innovative SORA-Q spheroid rover among payloads on M1 – designed by Doshisha University & Takara Tomy toy company with Sony dev board / Arm processor core for JAXA; SORA-Q to collect data on locomotion in 1/6 G for future human-capable pressurized lunar vehicle

Pictured: Yosuke Yoneda, Kenta Hashiba of TOMY Company; Credits: ispace, Takara Tomy, JAXA

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 16-19 Dec 2022

Posted on by

KPLO ‘Danuri’ Begins Lunar Orbit Insertion Process, Joining Capstone, Artemis 1 CubeSats, Chandrayaan-2, ARTEMIS-P1 / P2, LRO

Cislunar spacecraft are now joined by 678-kg wet / 418-kg dry Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter Danuri following first orbital insertion burn and near 100-km perilune 16 Dec at ~17:53 UTC (17 Dec 02:52 KST); 4 lunar orbit insertion maneuvers over the next 12 days are to deliver Danuri to a 100 x 100km polar (90°) inclination orbit where it will circle Luna 12x per Earth-day utilizing 6 science payloads including ASU ShadowCam for nominal 1-year on-orbit mission duration; 35-m Korea Deep Space Antenna in Yeoju, S. Korea providing tracking and comms

Credits: KARI

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 4-7 Nov 2022

Posted on by

Rocket Lab Solar Panels to be Integrated on Artemis Lunar Gateway PPE by Maxar as Thales Alenia Welds HALO Module

Panels of 30% efficienct Z4J multi-junction solar cells made by Rocket Lab subsidiary SolAero Technologies (Albuquerque NM) under contract for Maxar Technologies, builder of Lunar Gateway Power and Propulsion Element; Redwire subsidiary Deployable Space Systems (Goleta CA) to integrate panels into PPE Roll Out Solar Array, providing ~70 kW to power 6 kW Hall-effect ion thrusters made by Busek (Natick MA); PPE to launch with Cygnus-based Habitation and Habitation and Logistics Outpost (HALO) NET Nov 2024, forming core of cislunar space station; HALO being fabricated by Thales Alenia in Turin, Italy for Northrop Grumman

Credits: Rocket Lab, NASA, Northrop Grumman, Thales Alenia

Friday / 4 Nov 2022

Posted on by

Astrobotic PM1 Advances with Precision Landing Validation as BE-4 Engines Being Integrated on Vulcan Centaur

100-km test flight of Optical Precision Autonomous Landing system aboard King Air B200 twin turboprop confirms functionality 9 km above mountainous northern region of Mojave Desert analogous to lunar surface while providing Astrobotic with data to be utilized for US$79.5M Peregrine Mission 1 to Lacus Mortis (NET Q1 2023) and $320.4M Griffin Mission One to Nobile Crater (NET Nov 2024); Meanwhile Blue Origin working with ULA to complete Vulcan Centaur launch vehicle with BE-4 LNG / LOX (“methalox”) engines at Decatur, Alabama ULA facility

Credits: Astrobotic, ULA

Tuesday / 1 Nov 2022

Posted on by

Lunar Flashlight to Prospect for Water on Moon, Launch with ispace Mission-1 NET 22 November

Utilizing 4 shortwave IR lasers (1.064, 1.495, 1.85, 1.99 μm) and indium gallium arsenide spectrometer, 6U / 14kg Lunar Flashlight 2-month nominal cubesat mission led by PI Barbara Cohen of NASA GSFC to search for water ice hidden within permanently shadowed regions on Moon from 15 x 70,000 km elliptical near-rectilinear polar orbit with ~6 day period; Lunar Flashlight now launching with Hakuto-R M1, which has arrived at KSC for launch on SpaceX F9 NET 22 Nov carrying UAE Rashid rover, Canadensys-built 360° cameras, JAXA spheroid robot

Credits: NASA, ispace, Wikipedia

Friday / 28 Oct 2022

Posted on by

Quantum Space Announces October 2024 Mission QS-1 to Earth-Moon-Lagrange Points 1 and 2 with Cislunar Superhighway Ambitions

NewSpace enterprise Quantum Space working toward self-funded launch of 400-kg satellite to collect space situational awareness data in cislunar space over 3-year mission; Main visible imager payload will be provided by GEOST, spacecraft bus to be built by Blue Canyon which will carry commercial customer payloads; Co-founded by Kam Ghaffarin (L), who also is Founder of IBX, Executive Chair at X-energy, Intuitive Machines & Axiom Space; QS-1 to utilize commercial deep space ground stations, modular cislunar communication / servicing waystations to follow

Also Pictured: Quantum Space CEO Steve Jurczyk, CTO Ben Reed;
Credits: NASA, X-Energy, IAF, Quantum Space
 

Tuesday / 11 Oct 2022

Posted on by

Cislunar Development Policy to be Discussed at Beyond Earth Symposium 12-13 Oct

34 featured speakers in space policy, academia and industry to consider guidelines conducive to long-term human community & economy in space and on / around Moon at hybrid conference hosted by University of Arizona Center for Outreach & Collaboration in Washington DC; Toward a Cislunar Ecosystem with Human Presence panel on 13 Oct will be moderated by (L-R) Laura Forczyk (Beyond Earth Institute), feature speakers Scott Pace (George Washington University), Paul Stimers (K&L Gates), Vishnu Reddy (University of Arizona LPL), John Mankins (Moon Village Association) and Angeliki Kapoglou (ESA); In-person ($345) and online ($49) registration available here

Credits: BE, University of Arizona

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 7-10 Oct 2022

Posted on by

Stalwart Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Continues to Contribute to Cutting Edge Moon Science and Exploration

Team led by Vishnu Viswanathan of NASA Goddard Space Flight Center manipulate LOLA data to determine effect of asteroid impacts that created 5,200 Moon craters 20–1,200m in diameter over 4.25B years on True Polar Wander; Modeling suggests 10° / 300km variance, with implications for polar water ice location; LRO also actively in use for commercial exportation initiatives – in calibration testing of Intuitive Machines Lunar Telemetry and Tracking Network, set to support IM-1 mission NET Q1 2023 and in upcoming test of Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System on CAPSTONE

Credits: NASA, Advanced Space

Friday / 7 Oct 2022

Posted on by

CNSA Offering Payload Rideshares on Chang’E-7 MSP Lander Launching NET 2026

International science experiments / technology demonstrations encouraged to apply for space on Chang’E-7 Moon mission to a crater rim within South Pole-Aitken basin less than 5° from Moon South Pole; Announcement of Opportunity specifies payload parameters: 300mm×150mm×150mm maximum physical dimensions, -180°C to 80°C lunar surface operating temperature, ≤10kg mass, ≤50W power consumption; Applicants to submit letter of intent by 1 Feb 2023 for 1 April preliminary selection, full proposals due 1 June 2023

Credits: CNSA