Category Archives: Artemis Program

Tuesday / 25 March 2025

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Artemis 2: On-Track to Bring Humans Closer to the Moon than We’ve Been in More Than 50 Years

NASA Astronauts Christina Koch, Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen are training meticulously for a million-km, 10-day Moon flyby in Orion spacecraft, 1st crewed flight of the Artemis campaign, Artemis II; set to launch NET April 2026 via Space Launch System (SLS), Orion is now at Kennedy Space Center; also there, SLS now has its 64-meter core stage — largest component of the rocket — joined with stacked solid rocket boosters; crew are testing Orion life support, communications and navigation systems and speaking with its engineers

Credits: CSA, NASA

Friday / 7 March 2025

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Lunar Outpost Mobile Autonomous Prospecting Platform (MAPP) Now on Moon

Competing for NASA award to provide Artemis III rover, Lunar Outpost sent its MAPP to Moon and is currently awaiting orientation data from Intuitive Machines Athena IM-2 Lander to confirm whether the 45x38x40cm, 15kg MAPP becomes the 1st American rover to operate on the Moon; other firsts expected are lunar economy / commercialization via image of collected regolith sold to NASA for nominal amount US$1 and cellular network via Nokia (Finland) payload; other payloads from MIT (camera, tiny robots), Castrol (robot lubricant), and sports-oriented consortium (Italy and Germany); Lunar Outpost has offices in Colorado, Luxembourg, Australia

Credits: Lunar Outpost, NASA

Tuesday / 18 February 2025

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Cosmosphere and The Moonwalkers Offer Moon Inspiration and Education

Apollo 16 Moonwalker Charlie Duke is donating 25 Kansas flags to Smithsonian-affiliated Cosmosphere Space Museum – the Moon-flown 10×15 cm flags display Kansas state motto Ad Astra Per Aspera: To the Stars Through Difficulties; now premiering in USA is 50-minute film The Moonwalkers: A Journey with Tom Hanks, co-written and narrated by him, at Space Center Houston on 5-story-high screen with 7 projectors, incorporating NASA archival films and photos, featuring the Artemis II crew

Credits: Cosmosphere, NASA, Lightroom.uk

Friday / 14 February 2025

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Intuitive Machines: Leader in USA Return to Moon

NET 26 Feb, 4 days after 1st observation of Intuitive Machines IM-1 touchdown on 12° slope at Malapert A 80.13°S, IM-2 launches for Mons Mouton 84.6°S with TRIDENT carbide drill built by Blue Origin Honeybee Robotics to be remote controlled from Earth while MSOLO mass spectrometer from INFICON analyzes gasses released while drilling — together called NASA PRIME-1, and also a leaping robot scanning for hydrogen / temperature communicating via Nokia 4G/LTE system; IM-3 flies NET late 2025 to Reiner Gamma magnetic anomaly area ~7.5°N for NASA PRISM carrying team of 3 JPL CADRE rovers; 4th deployment of Nova-C lander IM-4 scheduled NET Oct 2027 will take yeast to Moon South Pole

Credits: NASA, Intuitive Machines

Tuesday / 11 February 2025

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Dedication to Artemis Program Remains Strong

Artemis Accords represent collaborative, international effort with USA as a rallying point for now 50 nations and organizations; joint statement between Japan Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru and US President Trump affirms continued partnership for Artemis missions; JAXA is developing pressurized lunar rover, will provide 2 astronauts, and works with ESA on lunar Gateway; NASA has issued RFP from companies to assume VIPER project search for water ice under a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement; other policy changes involve SLS shutdown; archived LEAG Artemis recommendations are now available here 

Pictured: PM Ishiba; Credits: The White House, JAXA, NASA, LEAG

Tuesday / 4 February 2025

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Houston Autoboative MOON ROVERS Show?

NASA call for Lunar Terrain Vehicles for Artemis brought proposals to Houston Autoboative (car and boat) Show from Intuitive Machines, Astrolab Venturi and Lunar Outpost; IM Moon RACER (Reusable Autonomous Crewed Exploration Rover) engineered with 9 partners and Apollo Moonwalkers Charlie Duke and Harrison Schmitt carries 400kg cargo plus 800kg on a trailer; AV FLEX Rover features NASA-proven software, robotic arm able to place 25kg load, and hyper-flexible wheels; LO Lunar Dawn LTV Eagle developed with GM, Goodyear and MDA Space

Credits: Lunar Outpost, Astrolab Venturi, Intuitive Machines

Friday / 31 January 2025

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Water Is Life — Why It Is on the Moon

Of ~382 kg of Moon rock returned by Apollo, samples heated to 50°, 150° and 1,000°C indicate they are “surprisingly wet” — important for Artemis missions; research published 16 Dec 24 concludes most water is from Moon’s formation, some from comets, and theory of “solar wind as the dominant source for lunar water” is invalid; NASA-led Artemis landing humans NET 2027 plan Moon as gateway to the Solar System using Moon water, which is “among the rarest and most precious commodities in space”; China pledges to land humans before 2030

Credits: NASA, Morgan Nunn Martinez, Maxwell and Mark Thiemens

Tuesday / 7 January 2025

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Questions Arise for USA Admin 2025+ Moon-Mars Priorities

Regardless of SpaceX contracts for the program, CEO Musk says Artemis maximizes jobs not results, wants to build Moon Base Alpha but not for refueling on the way to Mars; Ars Technica’s Eric Berger notes USA competes with China for a Moon presence, reports a new administration committee sees humans there by 2028 via a more-efficient Artemis program; Jared Isaacman, nominated for NASA Administrator, wrote “Americans will walk on the Moon and… make life better here on Earth”; Mark Whittington recommends Artemis mission goals: “[A]dvance the frontiers of science, create technology that will be useful in space and on Earth … create new industries”

Credits: SpaceX: Musk – Royal Society, Moon Base Alpha concepts, Monica + Jared Isaacman

Tuesday / 24 September 2024

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Moonquake Mitigation Being Examined for Upcoming 21st-Century Human Landings

Moonquakes can last hours, earthquakes seconds; Astronauts left lunar seismometers 50 years ago showing South Pole-region epicenters likely due to global shrinkage from core cooling; University of Texas researchers used JAXA funding to decipher Moon seismograph data; 7 researchers, T.R. Watters, et al, published 25 January 2024 in Planetary Science Journal that Malapert Massif / other proposed Artemis landing sites not landslide-threatened, but structures / materials / gravity need to accommodate shaking / quivering / trembling say San Francisco engineering firm / American Society of Civil Engineering under a NASA grant

Credits: (NASA/LRO/LROC/ASU/Smithsonian Institution) (L-fault; R-blue box indicates potential Artemis landing site, dot indicates landslide likelihood)

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 17-20 May 2024

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In Peace for All?

As USA, China, and India advance toward declared human Moon landings, cooperative models of interaction based on existing international agreements regarding Antarctica and the High Seas may inform lunar activities; Antarctic Treaty (1959) proscribes aggression under Article 1, ‘Antarctica shall be used for peaceful purposes only’ as does Convention on the High Seas (1958), Article 88, ‘The high seas shall be reserved for peaceful purposes’, sentiments which should serve as conceptual guidance for Moon agreements under consideration by UNOOSA / UN COPUOS, Artemis Accords, ILRS, NASA OTPS, ILOA, MVA and other stakeholders

 
Credits: NASA, UN