Category Archives: Cislunar Space Development

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 3-6 Apr 2020

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USA Releases Path Toward Permanent Human Presence On Lunar Surface

NASA Plan For Sustained Lunar Exploration And Development Calls For Establishment Of Artemis Base Camp Via 3 Primary Mission Elements: Human Transport Lunar Terrain Vehicle, Mobile Habitat Platform Capable Of 45 Day Voyages, And Surface Habitat Suitable For 4-Member Crew; Administrator Bridenstine Says “Artemis Will Serve As Our North Star As We Continue To Work Toward Even Greater Exploration Of The Moon” And Commits To ‘Increasingly Longer’ Annual Human Missions Following Initial 7 Day Artemis III Landing Of First Woman And Next Man On Moon


Credits: ESA, NASA

 

Friday / 3 April 2020

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Lunar Landers On Track For 2021, First USA Surface Missions Since 1972

CLPS Awardees Astrobotic (US$79.5M) And Intuitive Machines ($77M) Report Lander Development Schedule On Track For July 2021 Launch, While Timeline For Only 3 Out Of 13 NASA Payloads Can Currently Be Confirmed; Winners Of NASA 19C Task Order To Polar Regions Late 2022 Expected To Be Announced Soon; Competitors For 19C Include IM, SpaceX, Moon Express, Blue Origin, Sierra Nevada, Lockheed Martin, and Firefly Which Is Working With Israel Aerospace Industries On Genesis Lander (85-kg Payload Capacity) – An Advanced Version Of Beresheet 

Credits: Firefly, Astrobotic, IM

Friday / 27 March 2020

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Artemis Program Continues As Long-Term Stimulus In Current Crisis

Orion Spacecraft For Artemis 1 Arrives At KSC Despite Lockdown At NASA Centers; Virus Crisis Seen As Reason To Accelerate Not Delay Human Moon Landings; Economic Downturn Means USA Needs Lunar Return Now More Than Ever; Turning Back Would Add Thousands Of Moonworkers To Unemployment Rolls; Studies Show That Spaceflight Investment Has Positive Multiplier Effects On Economy; Sustained Lunar Program Would Be Long-Term Stimulus For Earth

Credits: NASA, ILOA, SPC, Lockheed Martin; Mark Whittington – The Hill

Tuesday / 17 March 2020

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NASA Artemis Human Lunar Landing In 2024 To Bypass Gateway 

New NASA Associate Administrator For Human Exploration And Operations Mission Directorate Doug Loverro Commits To Artemis Bypassing Lunar Orbital Gateway; Human Landing Goal In 2024 Will Be Critical Path; Canada, Japan And European Space Agencies, Maxar Technologies And Northrop Grumman Contributing To Gateway; NASA Selects Space Weather Instrument Suite And ESA-Built Radiation Instrument Package As First Science Experiments On Future Gateway Space Station; Lunar Orbit Seen As Important For Long-Term Sustainable Presence On Moon Surface

Credits: NASA

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