Category Archives: Cislunar Space Development

Friday / 21 February 2025

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India to the Moon: Update and Focus

ISRO charting innovative course for human Moon landing by 2040, perhaps near Shiv Shakti where Chandrayaan 3 landed; LVM3 rocket being modified into Human-Rated HR-LVM3 ‘Soorya’ with safety systems, tripled liftoff mass capability ~1.8 million kg; higher-capacity lunar lander being built with Earth Departing Stage (EDS); crewed Moon missions to require minimum 2 launches, then in-space docking / assembly; inaugural double launch NET 2025 for Gaganyaan crewed Earth orbit, then Chandrayaan-4 lunar sample return NET 2027 (updated from 2028); IAF GLEX Conference upcoming May 7-9 in New Delhi

Credits: ISRO, NASA/JPL/USGS

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 / 28 January 2025

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Intuitive Machines IM-2 Science and Discovery Class Lunar Delivery

IM-2 planned launch on Falcon 9 to Moon on 26 Feb prompts invitation from NASA to media for in-person attendance; lander Athena expected touchdown is 6-7 Mar at Mons Mouton, 84.6°S, with thermal-protected payloads from NASA, Lonestar Data Holdings, Columbia Sportswear, Nokia 4G/LTE cellular system, Lunar Outpost, Puli Space, Dymon Co. Ltd., German Aerospace Center; IM’s Micro-Nova Hopper “Grace” to explore shadowed craters, send data via Nokia to Athena and IM-2 system to Earth; IM-4 landing NET 2027 also headed to South Pole area, while IM-3 landing NET 2026 aims for 7.39°N

Credits: NASA, Intuitive Machines

Tuesday / 8 October 2024

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Astrobotic Working Toward 2025 Lunar Landing, Advancing Pittsburgh Infrastructure

Astrobotic Griffin lunar lander to launch on SpaceX Falcon Heavy NET September 2025 for Griffin Mission One; Griffin lander, built in Pittsburgh, will communicate via NASA JPL Deep Space Network antennae in Australia, Spain, California; 7 minutes after Florida launch, Polaris was photographed over skyline by Dustin McGrew, called “extraordinary” by Astrobotic founder William ‘Red’ Whittaker; University of Pittsburgh now has ‘Pitt Space,’ promotes research, offers graduate certificate; Astrobotic received NASA award to build solar array for Moon power infrastructure ~17x human height

Credits: Astrobotic, Dustin McGrew

Friday / 20 September 2024

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India Lunar Goals Boosted by Additional Funding, Aiming for 2027 Chandrayaan-4, Human Moon Landing 2040

One of 5 nations with Moon soft-landing, India plans its 2nd controlled Moon landing by 2027 with Chandrayaan-4, using 2 LVM3 rockets, docking / undocking in lunar orbit, regolith sample return / analysis, budget Rs 2,104 crore / US$251.6M, triple that of Chandrayaan-3; New launch vehicle development given Rs 8,240 crore / US$985.3M to triple payload of LVM3 at 1.5 times cost; Chandrayaan-5 (previously LUPEX) plans Indian launch vehicle / lander and JAXA rover to explore Moon South Pole permanently shadowed regions; crewed Moon landing sought 2040

Credits: (L – LVM3 rocket, ISRO; C – Chandrayaan-3 lander now at Statio Shiv Shakti 69.373°S 32.319°E, ISRO; R – JAXA Lunar Polar Exploration rover, Mitsubishi)

Tuesday / 17 September 2024

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Intuitive Machines Continues Search for Moon Ice / Water

NET January 2025, Intuitive Machines (IM) plans to launch IM-2 “Athena” Nova-C lunar lander and Lunar Trailblazer orbiter aboard Falcon 9; lander headed for Shackleton connecting ridge near Moon South Pole has Micro-Nova Hopper propulsive drone to measure surface hydrogen, PRIME-1 drill ~1 meter long, commercial off-the-shelf spectrometer, Nokia LTE 4G communications system to test; orbiter will map light wavelengths on Moon surface continuing search for water begun by Chandrayaan-1; as part of Artemis, IM receives its 4th NASA CLPS award, CP-22, US$116.9 M to deliver six instruments in 2027 to the Moon South Pole; IM is on NASDAQ as LUNR

 

Credits: (L-orbiter) Lockheed Martin, (C-hopper) Intuitive Machines, (R-light map, water / hydroxyl are blue / violet) ISRO/NASA/JPL-Caltech/Brown University/USGS

Friday / 30 August 2024

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Firefly Aerospace Aiming for NET December Launch, Blue Ghost Testing at JPL

Firefly may become 3rd American company attempting lunar landing; Blue Ghost lander now being tested at JPL, designed for future annual Moon payload services; first mission “Ghost Riders in the Sky” to launch NET Dec from Florida on Falcon 9, deliver 10 payloads per CLPS Task Order 19D and others to Mare Crisium after ~45 days in transit, operating one lunar / 14 Earth days and 5 lunar night hours; an “end-to-end space transportation company”, Firefly has new CEO Jason Kim, 700 employees, 4,650 sq meter facility, 230 sq meter clean room 307 km from Dallas TX 

Credits: Firefly Aerospace, NASA

Friday / 26 April 2024

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Intuitive Machines Well Positioned to Capitalize on Growing Cislunar Economy

Predicting US$250M revenue in 2024 and estimating $70M cash on hand, market analyst Stephen Tobin makes bullish case for Houston TX-based Intuitive Machines (LUNR) despite $53M negative equity as of Q4 2023 earnings report; Pointing to success of IM-1 and upcoming NASA CLPS-funded IM-2 and -3 missions NET Q4 2024 / 2025 as well as $30M Lunar Terrain Vehicle (with Boeing, Northrop Grumman), $719M Joint Polar Satellite System (with KBR), and $5M Fission Surface Power (with X-energy) contracts, Tobin suggests IM lunar services will be in demand by commercial interests and small national space agencies eager to utilize Earth-Moon / cislunar transport, operational and communication capabilities

 
Credits: Intuitive Machines

Thursday / 25 April 2024

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International Lunar Observatory Association Selected for Chang’E-7 Galaxy Imaging Payload

ILOA Hawai’i is honored to be selected as a Chang’E-7 payload to conduct Galaxy / Astronomy imaging from Shackleton Rim on the surface of the Moon about 2026; ILOA advances its Moon missions, most especially its flagship ILO-1 destined for Malapert Summit for observation and communication, in the spirit of peaceful and productive cooperation, equality and mutual benefit – in Space, on Earth, and perhaps most importantly, on the Moon; ILOA, and ILOA-affiliated Space Age Publishing Company, also advocate that independent associations, business enterprises, universities and non-profits (NGOs) be encouraged and accepted for participation in the USA-initiated Artemis Accords, as they are in the UN and the China-led ILRS International Lunar Research Station

 
Credits: ILOA, CNSA, DSEL, NASA

Friday / 19 April 2024

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Firefly Aerospace Set to Announce Blue Ghost Mission 1 Q3/Q4 Launch Window to Moon

Austin TX-based Firefly building on 2-m tall, 3.5-m diameter Blue Ghost lunar lander at newly-expanded 19,231 m2 work space under CLPS US$93.3M task order 19D; Blue Ghost M1 could be 4th Moon surface mission to ride on SpaceX Falcon 9 (Beresheet, Hakuto-R, IM-1) with 30-day launch window TBA in May; The 150-kg capacity lander is to carry 10 NASA payloads with 94-kg mass including regolith-repelling Electrodynamic Dust Shield (KSC), solar wind-Earth magnetic field investigation Lunar Environment Heliospheric X-ray Imager (Boston University), and Lunar GNSS Receiver Experiment (MSFC), first attempt to utilize GPS on Moon

Pictured (T-B) Firefly CEO Bill Weber, Advisory Board Member Jim Bridenstine, CFO Darren Ma
Credits: Firefly