Category Archives: Artemis Program

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 9-12 Dec 2022

Posted on by

Orion Return is Beginning of New Era of Lunar Exploration as 2023 Commercial and National Moon Mission Prepare

Mission team including Landing / Recovery Director Melissa Jones, Entry Flight Director Judd Frieling now planning to recover Orion capsule near Guadalupe Island, ~241 km from Baja California coast following 11 Dec 09:40 PST splashdown; Just 10 hours prior, ispace HAKUTO-R lander is to launch to Moon from CCSFS (02:38 EST); CLPS missions from Intuitive Machines and Astrobotic to follow NET Q1 2023, JAXA SLIM NET April, ISRO Chandrayaan-3 NET June; Artemis 2 circumlunar crewed mission NET May 2024, SpaceX uncrewed demo mission and crewed dearMoon NET 2024

Credits: Astrobotic, Blue Origin, NASA

Friday / 2 Dec 2022

Posted on by

Artemis 1 Orion Spacecraft Departing Lunar Distant Retrograde Orbit for Moon Flyby, Earth Return and Reentry

Orion headed back toward Moon following 105-second main engine trajectory maneuver, a 4-day leg of Artemis 1 journey which has seen the furthest travel of any human-rated vessel (aside from Apollo 10 ascent module in heliocentric disposal orbit) at 432,210-km from Earth; Final powered lunar flyby set to occur at 8:43 PST on 5 Dec, sending Orion on a 6-day trip towards Earth; 11 Dec reentry at 9:40 to be fastest (39,429 kph / Mach 32) and hottest (2,760°C) to date, first to employ ‘skip’ technique allowing precision splashdown and lowered g-forces

 Credits: NASA

Tuesday / 15 Nov 2022

Posted on by

NASA Moon Flagship Artemis 1 Ready for Inaugural Launch to Lunar Orbit and Secondary Payload Deep Space Delivery

Weather forecast estimated at 90% favorable for 2-hour window set to begin on 16 Nov 01:04 EST for launch of Artemis 1 mission from historic KSC Launch Pad 39B; Live broadcast to begin with SLS core stage fueling with Launch Control Center commentary at 15:30 on 15 Nov followed by launch coverage starting at 10:30, continuing through SRB (~T+2 minutes), core stage (T+8 minutes) and upper (Interim Cryogenic Propulsion) stage separation and TLI; Post-launch news conference with mission team scheduled for 04:00 16 Nov

Pictured: (Clockwise) NASA Administrator Bill Nelson, Artemis Mission Manager Michael Sarafin, JSC Flight Director Emily Nelson, Orion Program Manager Howard Hu, SLS Program Manager John Honeycutt, Exploration Ground Systems Program Manager Mike Bolger; Credits: NASA, LinkedIn, ULA

Friday / 11 Nov 2022

Posted on by

Japan Authorizes ispace to Prospect on Moon During HAKUTO-R Mission 1 Launching NET Nov 22

First license under Japan Space Resources Act now held by ispace, which is set to lead wave of commercial Moon landing activity with M1, currently awaiting launch opportunity via SpaceX F9 at KSC SLC-40 to ~3-month low energy transfer, landing at Lacus Somniorum (37.56° N, 30.8° E) on Moon; ispace plans to collect and sell lunar regolith ‘in place’ to NASA during M1 under US$5,000 contract; CEO Takeshi Hakamada says “Space resource utilization is another step toward our goal of establishing the cislunar economy” in release

Pictured: ispace CEO Takeshi Hakamada, Japan Minister of State for Space Policy Sanae Takaichi; Credits: ispace, Twitter, PM Office of Japan

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 28-31 Oct 2022

Posted on by

NASA Economic Impact Study Shows US$71.2B Effect on Output, NASA OTPS Issues Lunar Exploration Policy Recommendations

While NASA itself employs some 19,000+ civil servants, its operations support an estimated 339,600 jobs nationally, per Economic Impact Report generated by IMPLAN modeling software, compiled by researchers at Voorhees Center in Chicago; Study estimates 1,000,000+ people in 90 nations employed in $469B global space industry; Lunar Landing and Operations Policy Analysis issued by Office of Technology, Policy, and Strategy identifies 7 lunar challenges / mitigation approaches: Landings, Surface Operations, Surface Movement, Radio-Frequency Interference, Areas with Special Characteristics, Unexpected Activities and Human Heritage Protection

 

Pictured: (TL-TR) Amanda Hernandez, Gabriel Swiney (NASA OTPS), (BL-BR) Yittayih Zelalem, Joshua Drucker, Zafer Sonmez (Voorhees Center); Credits: NASA, NSS, LinkedIn

Tuesday / 25 Oct 2022

Posted on by

Artemis Moon Return Advances with Analog Training, 3 Orion Capsules on Order as Cost Transparency Urged

NASA analyzing data gathered by NASA / JAXA Astronauts Drew Feustel, Zena Cardman, Jessica Meir, Stan Love, Akihiko Hoshide, Norishige Kanai during nighttime Moonwalk simulation (JETT field test #3) and 3-day pressurized rover sojourn (D-RATS) near Flagstaff AZ; Lockheed Martin to build Orion additional crew capsules for Artemis missions 6-8 at cost of US$1.99B; Wayne Hale of NASA Advisory Council recommends PPP contract details be public, expresses concern on program architecture and 1-way Starship landing test; Former NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine joining Advisory Board of CLPS provider Firefly

Credits: Lockheed Martin, NASA

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 21-24 Oct 2022

Posted on by

Multiple International Lunar Missions Prepare to Launch as CAPSTONE and Danuri Near Lunar Orbit

NASA CAPSTONE mission team preparing to execute TCM-4 with possibility of ongoing thruster malfunction, spacecraft to enter lunar halo orbit NET 13 Nov; KARI Danuri following on similar low-energy route, to achieve lunar orbital (100km) insertion NET 17 Dec; Uncrewed Artemis 1 launch window to lunar flyby opens for 69 minutes at 00:07 EST on 14 Nov from KSC, where ispace is also aiming for M1 lander launch 9-15 Nov and NASA is prepping Orion heat shield for use in Artemis 3; Astrobotic Peregrine, Intuitive Machines Nova-C NET Q1 2023; Roscosmos Luna-25 NET July 2023; ISRO now targeting NET June 2023 launch of Chandrayaan-3 Moon lander / rover

Credits: NASA, Advanced Space, IM, Astrobotic, KARI, ISRO, Lockheed Martin

Friday / 30 Sep 2022

Posted on by

Japan Spacecraft at Forefront of Lunar Return with ispace Lander, Cubesat Rideshares on Artemis 1

ispace HAKUTO-R mission reportedly targeting 9-15 November launch to Lacus Somniorum (Lake of Dreams) via SpaceX Falcon 9; ispace lander to deliver Rashid rover and collect regolith for sale to NASA under precedent-setting US$5,000 contract in accordance with Outer Space Treaty 1967; JAXA 6U CubeSats OMOTENASHI (Hospitality) and EQUULEUS to deploy from Artemis 1 Orion Stage Adapter, perform critical trajectory maneuvers to pathfind Earth-Moon L2 libration orbit and achieve semi-hard (~30 m/s) landing; OMOTENASHI retrorocket / airbag surface delivery system may serve as low-cost model for future Moon surface payloads

Pictured: (L-R) ispace CFO Jumpei Nozaki, ispace CEO Takeshi Hakamada, NASA Deputy Associate Administrator for Business Operations Casey Swails, ispace EU Director Julien-Alexandre Lamamy; Credits: NASA, JAXA, ispace

Tuesday / 27 Sep 2022

Posted on by

ESA to Send 2 Astronauts to Lunar Gateway, 1 to Moon Surface with NASA / Artemis Program by End of NLT 2029

Joint Statement on Lunar Cooperation Activities, signed by ESA Director Aschbacher / NASA Administrator Nelson, outlines Europe contributions – Service Module for Orion, I-HAB and ESPRIT modules for Gateway; At least 3 seats for ESA Astronauts secured in exchange: 2 Astronauts on orbital missions, likely Artemis 4 (NET 2027) & Artemis 5 (NET 2028), 1 on later surface mission TBD; Candidates for Europe Moon Astronauts include Samantha Cristoforetti (IT), Thomas Pesquet (FR), Tim Peake (UK), Alexander Gerst (DE), Matthias Maurer (DE), Luca Parmitano (IT) and Andreas Mogensen (DK)

Pictured (L-R): ESA Director Josef Aschbacher, NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson; Credits: ESA, NASA, Twitter

Friday / 23 Sep 2022

Posted on by

Artemis and Starship: Mega Rockets Intended for Human Moon Exploration Advance Towards Flight

NASA to update on cryogenic tanking test which saw 7% hydrogen leak from 20-cm seal largely mitigated by reducing fueling pressure at 23 Sep press briefing; Next launch opportunity 27 Sep pending weather & flight termination system battery waiver; Starship ‘Ship 24’ and Super Heavy ‘B7’ prototypes to undergo full stack WDR / hot fire testing at SpaceX Starbase in TX, from which possible October or likely November orbital test launch is to occur, with B7 splashing down in Gulf of Mexico and Ship 24 soft landing in Pacific 100-km NW of Kauaʻi

Credits: NASA, SpaceX