Category Archives: Artemis Program

Friday / 12 May 2023

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Space Professionals Express Optimism for Moon Exploration, Growing Public Support Reflected in Poll

Artemis 2 Mission Specialist Jeremy Hansen links earthbound challenges (food security, healthcare, climate) to human exploration of the Moon, enabling “eight billion people to row in the same direction and work on these problems”; National Air and Space Museum curator Jennifer Levasseur tells Milwaukee Journal Sentinel she sees “palpable” increase in engagement of young people with space installations; Economist / YouGov survey confirms these sentiments, with 64% of USA adults supporting human Moon landings, with 23% favoring national leadership, 11% preferring commercial entities taking charge while 48% want a dual approach

Credits: NASA, SpaceX

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 14-17 April 2023

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JAXA Now Targeting SLIM Moon Lander Launch NET August Amid H3 Upper Stage Failure Investigation

While Japan eagerly awaits first commercial Moon landing with ispace (T-12 days),  SLIM timeline pushed back to at least August pending results of inquiry into unsuccessful inaugural launch of JAXA / Mitsubishi H3 during which the hydrogen-fueled upper stage, similar to H-2A second stage which is to carry SLIM to TLI and XRISM space observatory to GEO, failed to ignite; SLIM is to demonstrate precision landing within ~100 m of Marius Hills Hole and is first in a series of planned landings in support of Artemis, per statements given by JAXA Institute of Space and Astronautical Science Deputy Director Masaki Fujimoto

Credits: JAXA

Friday / 7 April 2023

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Artemis 2 Crew Set to Be First Astronauts to Reach Moon in Modern Era, Travel Further from Earth than Any Previous Mission

Commander Reid Wiseman, Pilot Victor Glover, and Mission Specialists Christina Hammock Koch & Jeremy Hansen are training intensively for 10-day lunar flyby Artemis 2 mission launching to multiple-burn trans lunar injection NET Nov 2024; Luna flyby will take crew 7,400 km past Moon, setting record for distance currently held by Apollo 13 (1970), which flew 254 km from lunar far side; Koch, Glover and Hansen to be first woman, person of color and non-USA citizen (respectively) to fly past LEO, cross Van Allen Belts and flyby Moon

Credits: NASA

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 31 March – 3 April 2023

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Artemis 2 Crew, First to Moon in 21st Century, to Be Announced Monday; Artemis 3 Moon Landing NLT 4 July 2026 Advances

NASA and CSA-ASC livestream 11:00 EDT on 3 April to announce official selection of 4 Astronauts to fly 7,402 km beyond the far side of the Moon NET Nov 2024; NASA will choose 3 crew from its 41 Astronauts (16 being women); Canada will select 1 Astronaut from its 3 men / 1 woman team; Looking forward to Artemis 3 / First Woman on the Moon (cast your vote on Space Age Pub / LED Poll), raises significant question of which international / non-USA person will be first to touch Moon surface

Credits: NASA, CSA-ASC
SPC Editorial Comment: In respects to Artemis 2 crew selection, our team hopes the mission will include 2 Women and 1st Person of Color to fly to the Moon
 

Friday / 31 March 2023

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Artemis Management Comes Under New Moon to Mars Program Office at NASA HQ

Amit Kshatriya, a 16+ year NASA veteran with background in ISS operations, to oversee hardware / mission development and risk management for major Artemis components – SLS, Orion, HLS, Gateway, xEMU spacesuits, and Exploration Ground Systems – as Deputy Associate Administrator of Moon to Mars Program Office; Kshatriya (L-R) reports to Associate Administrator Jim Free of Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate (representing ~30% of NASA total FY2024 budget of US$27.2B) and Deputy Associate Administrator Catherine Koerner, who also serves as Director of Strategy and Architecture Office, which interfaces with SMD / STMD

Credits: NASA

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 24-27 March 2023

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NASA Office of Small Business Programs Recognizes Artemis Exploration Ground Systems Contributions

163 companies out of 800+ small-to-medium sized enterprises who worked to make Artemis 1 a reality and continue to support the ongoing effort to return humans to the Moon named in OSBP publication A Case for Small Business: Artemis I: Exploration Ground Systems; While EGS is based at KSC FL, businesses in 43 states assist operations; Report highlights Avatar Technologies (MD), Cimarron Software (TX), Craig Technologies (FL), Insight Global (CA), ProXopS (TX), Summit Technologies (FL) and Axiom Space (TX, recipient of US$228.5M Artemis spacesuit contract)

Credits: NASA / OSBP

Friday / 17 March 2023

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Artemis 3 & 4 Human Landing Missions Science Teams to be Lead by NASA’s Noah Petro and Barbara Cohen

Newly appointed science leads for Moon South Pole A-3 and 4 missions, Petro and Cohen, are set to become vital coordinators / voices for science teams, geology teams and payload teams – to maximize science during human return to Moon 2025-2027; Petro works with LRO & LEAG, will convene LSSW #19 Artemis 3 Landing Sites Workshop 4-5 April, and presented Mons Malapert advocacy at LSSW #12; Cohen is PI for Lunar Flashlight and Ion-Trap Mass Spectrometer (aboard Astrobotic Peregrine M1), works with LRO, Mars Science Laboratory

Credits: NASA, GSFC, Jay Friedlander

Friday / 17 Feb 2023

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Mountain at Moon South Pole Named in Honor of NASA Apollo-era Mathematician Melba Roy Mouton

The 6,096-m high mountain on the western rim of Nobile Crater (~85.4°S, 37.5°E) is now officially known as Mons Mouton after NASA Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover (VIPER) team nomination to IAU Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature; Situated just a few km east of Leibnitz Beta Plateau, Mons Mouton is to be the site of the 100-day VIPER mission to be delivered via Astrobotic Griffin lander NET Nov 2024; Mons Mouton is also 1 of 13 sites selected by NASA fo Artemis 3 human landings NET 2025

Pictured: Melba Roy Mouton, WGPSN Organizing Committee members Rita Schulz, Debra Elmegreen, José Espinosa; Credits: IAU, NASA

Tuesday / 10 Jan 2022

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Radio Astronomy from the Moon Initiatives Progressing via NASA NIAC, Preliminary Missions Scheduled Through 2025

CLPS Science 3 delivery to Moon farside to be 9th in program NET 2025 by TBD lander provider; CS-3 payload LuSEE-Night to observe radio frequencies <50MHz, 21-cm big bang signals via spectroscopy; Also launching NET 2025 is CLPS PRISM-12 with LuSEE-Lite precursor on Draper Series 2 lander; IM-1 mission to carry Radio-wave Observations at the Lunar Surface of the photoElectron Sheath (ROLSES) NET March; Mega structure radio observatory concept LCRT receiving support via NIAC, FARSIDE may partner with Blue Origin, Farview working with Lunar Resources; Open Lunar study with SGAC suggests ‘single international radio observatory’ be planned to preserve lunar radio-quiet

Pictured: FARSIDE PI Jack Burns, ROLSES PI Natchimuthuk Gopalswamy, LCRT PI Saptarshi Bandyopadhyay, LuSEE PI Stuart Bale; Credits: NASA, UC Boulder, UC Berkeley, Vladimir Vustyanky / JPL

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 6-9 Jan 2022

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A Host of Robotic Moon Landings in 2023 to Precede New Era of Human Lunar Orbital Missions

Artemis Age of lunar exploration will continue full-steam in coming year with NASA CLPS lander missions from Intuitive Machines (IM-1) and Astrobotic (PM1) targeting Q1 launch followed by JAXA SLIM NET April, ISRO Chandrayaan-3 NET June, Roscosomos Luna-25 NET July; SpaceX aims to send 9 passengers on lunar flyby on Starship dearMoon by EOY; NASA working towards Artemis-2 mission launching NET May 2024 with 4-member crew (3 USA, 1 Canada) to be announced soon; Meanwhile ispace Hakuto-R expected to join 9 international orbiters NET April; 4 Artemis-1 CubeSats in vicinity

Credits: NASA, JAXA, Lockheed Martin, Tyvak