Category Archives: Cislunar Space Development

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 13-16 Mar 2020

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Moon Village Association Addresses UN, Makes Efforts Toward Sustainable Moon Use

MVA, Granted UN COPUOS Observer Status By Resolution 74/82, Shares Findings That Indicate 67% Of Adults Worldwide Say “It Is Time To Go [To Moon], Stay And Expand There” At 57th Scientific And Technical Subcommittee Session In Vienna; Moon Exploration Global Survey Conducted In Collaboration With World Space Week Association Is First Worldwide Study Of Kind; MVA Also Signs MoU With Romanian Space Agency (ROSA) To Partner On Space Awareness, Education, Industry; Prepares For International Moon Village Workshop & Symposium In Cyprus 9-12 Nov; Plans Expanded 2020 Survey Involving Collaboration With Other Groups


Credits: MVA, JAXA, Facebook
Pictured: MVA President Giuseppe Reibaldi, Romanian Cosmonaut Dumitru-Dorin Prunariu, ROSA President Marius-Ioan Piso

Friday / 13 March 2020

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University Teams Building SmallSat Demonstrations For Artemis 

NASA Small Spacecraft Technology Program Selects Nine University Teams For Small (<180 Kg) Satellite Demonstrations Supporting Artemis; Universities Will Receive Up To US$200K For Lunar Projects; Arizona State University Tempe Will Test Deployable Optical Receiver Aperture; University Of Colorado Boulder Will Build SmallSat Lunar Communications System In Collaboration With JPL; University Of California Irvine And University Of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Will Both Test Electrospray Thrusters; Future SmallSats Could Provide Communications And Navigation For The Moon

Credits: NASA

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 6-9 Mar 2020

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Artemis Mission Sequence Leading To Human Moon Landing In 2024

USA Administration And NASA Remain Committed To First Woman, Next Man On Surface Of Moon By 2024; Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle Nears Final Testing At Plum Brook Station; Space Launch System Core Stage Awaits Static Fire Testing At Stennis Space Center, Expected To Be Operational For Uncrewed Artemis I By Second Half Of 2021 Per Associate Administrator Steve Jurczyk; Artemis II Human Lunar Orbital Mission To Follow In 2022; Boeing And Blue Origin Under Consideration To Build Human Landing System For Artemis III In 2024

Credits: NASA

Friday / 28 February 2020

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CubeSats To Orbit Moon In 2021 To Prepare For Artemis 

NASA Small Spacecraft Technology Program Funds CubeSats For Moon; Lunar Flashlight Will Fly As Secondary Payload On Artemis-1; With Principal Investigator Barbara Cohen, Flashlight Will Examine Permanently Shadowed Regions Near South Pole For Water Ice Deposits; Rocket Lab Has Contract To Launch Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations And Navigation Experiment In 2021; 25-Kg CAPSTONE, Built By Tyvak Nano-Satellite Systems, Will Reach Near Rectilinear Halo Orbit As Precursor To Lunar Gateway

Credits: NASA, Rocket Lab

Friday / 7 February 2020

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SSTL Lunar Pathfinder Data Relay To Provide Communication With South Polar Region By 2022

UK Surrey Satellite Technology Limited (SSTL) Building Lunar Pathfinder Data-Relay; 280-Kg Spacecraft Is Intended To Provide Affordable Communications With S-Band And UHF Links To Missions On Surface, And X-Band Link To Earth; Will Enable Lunar Polar And Farside Missions With An Alternative To Earth-Based Deep Space Networks; Planned For Launch In 2022, Lunar Pathfinder Will Operate In Elliptical Orbit For Long-Duration Line-Of-Sight Visibility Of South Polar Region And Aitken Basin; Sue Horne Of UK Space Agency Talks Of Communicating From Lunar Orbit To Surface

Credits: NASA, SSTL

Friday / 31 January 2020

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Nanoracks And Xplore Announce Plan To ‘Commercialize Deep Space’ Starting With Lunar Orbit In 2021

Provider Of ISS Research, Cubesat Launch And Microgravity Services Since 2009, Nanoracks Of Houston To Partner With Xplore, A Seattle-Based Enterprise Founded By Lisa Rich of Hemisphere Ventures, Developer Of A Spacecraft Suitable For Conveyance To Moon; ‘Xcraft’ Is To Offer Payload Capacity Of 30 – 70 Kg Within 50U Volume, Parameters Which May Be Sufficient For Small Landers In Addition To Orbital Cubesat Instrumentation; Nanoracks Will Contribute Customer Services Including Payload Integration For Moon ‘Xpeditions’ Scheduled For Late 2021; Xplore Has Also Reached Agreements With Celestis Memorial Spaceflight And Arch Mission Foundation

Credits: NASA, Xplore, Nanoracks

Thursday / 9 January 2020

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2020s: International Lunar Decade Commences With Artemis Leading Way

International Lunar Decade (ILD) Concept Long Championed By Space Advocates, Scientists And Entrepreneurs Relies On The Capability Of 6 Major Spacefaring Powers And Independent / Commercial Enterprises: USA, India, China, Russia, Europe, Japan; SpaceX, Blue Origin, Boeing, Lockheed, Others; 5 Planned Human Moon Landings In 2020s And 8 On 2030s Horizon To Be Initiated; Coordination Of These Efforts Within UN-Sanctioned ILD Body Can Accelerate Actualization Of Community And Individuals On Lunar Surface By Optimizing Economic And Policy Conditions; Moon Build-out Is Recognized As Essential Platform From Which Wider Solar System Can Be Reached

Credits: NASA, ESA

Friday / 6 December 2019

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Japan Women Astronauts Among Those Working Towards First Women On The Moon Reality

As 3rd International Moon Village Workshop & Symposium Heads Into Second Day Advancing Interglobal Prospects For First Women, Astronomy And Community On The Moon; Chiaki Mukai (L) And Naoko Yamazaki Among Participants; ILOA-MVA Collaboration Highlights 21st Century Significance Of Women On The Moon With 2019 Essay Contest (Submissions Due 15 Dec); ILOA Galaxy Forum Hainan 2020 China, Cosponsored By MVA, Furthering International – China, Europe, USA, India, Russia, Japan, Korea, Canada, SEA – Moon Build-Out And Astrophysics Effort

Credits: MVA, JAXA, JSF, KU, TUS, XTEND

Thursday / 5 December 2019

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3rd International Moon Village Workshop & Symposium Starts In Tokyo, Japan

2019 Annual Meeting Of MVA, Running 5-8 Dec, To Feature Details Of Proposed ‘Olympic Games On The Moon’ Which Will Offer “Demonstrative Pilot Case Of Earth-based Activities That Can Be Carried Over Onto The Moon”, According To MVA President Giuseppe Reibaldi, Given By Makoto Arai Of Dentsu Inc; Director Of ISRO Space Science Program Office Parameswaran Sreekumar (R) To Present On Indian Lunar Program; CNSA Chief Designer Weiren Wu (L) To Speak On Chinese Lunar Program; ILOA Director Steve Durst To Update On 5 Moon Missions And Women On The Moon Initiative; Workshop Sessions Can Be Viewed Live

Credits: MVA, CNSA, ISRO

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 15-18 November 2019

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Chandryaan-3: India Reportedly Sets November 2020 Goal For Landing Near Moon South Pole

ISRO Second Effort At Soft Landing On Surface Of Moon In Late 2020; Chandrayaan-3 To Be Configured With Detachable Propulsion Module, Lander And Rover; Chandrayaan-2 Orbiter Currently Functioning And Imaging With Onboard Terrain Mapping Camera-2 And Orbiter’s High-Resolution Camera From ~100-km Elevation; Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre Head V Narayanan (R) Leads Inquiry Into Chandrayaan-2 Lander Failure; Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre Director S Somanath (L) Leads Chandrayaan-3 Planning Committee

Credits: ISRO, NASA