Category Archives: Cislunar Space Development

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 / 3 March 2023

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Moon Time Standardization May Advance International Cislunar Communication, Navigation Capabilities

Interoperable ‘LunaNet’ communication / navigation protocol initiative will require agreement on common time on & around Moon similar to Coordinated Universal Time on Earth & Earth orbit, per ESA statement; Standard Moon time would enable NASA Lunar Communications Relay and Navigation Systems, ESA Moonlight and other nodes in Moon network to share spatial measurement as with Earth-based International Terrestrial Reference Frame used by GNSS; Nature and composition of governing organization and whether to fix Moon time to Earth time or create independent local selenocentric system TBD by lunar stakeholders

Pictured: ESA Moonlight Navigation Manager Javier Ventura-Traveset, ESA Navigation Engineer Pietro Giordano; Credits: ESA, NASA, Twitter

Friday / 24 Feb 2023

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India Chandrayaan-3 Major Modules and Rover Advance Toward June-July Launch, Pass Key Tests

 Aiming for ~110km east of Chandrayaan-2 attempted landing site, Chandrayaan-3 propulsion module, lander and 26-kg rover undergoing major evaluations at U R Rao Satellite Centre in Bengaluru for NET June launch to 70.83°S, 22.67°E; Passing Electro Magnetic Interference/ Electro Magnetic Compatibility (EMI-EMC) tests early February for radio-frequency communication links between modules allows further subsystems & payload checks to continue; Mission will use Indian Deep Space Network for Earth comms and has agreements with NASA Deep Space Network & Estrack network as backups

Credits: ISRO, TAVD / URSC

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 16-19 Dec 2022

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KPLO ‘Danuri’ Begins Lunar Orbit Insertion Process, Joining Capstone, Artemis 1 CubeSats, Chandrayaan-2, ARTEMIS-P1 / P2, LRO

Cislunar spacecraft are now joined by 678-kg wet / 418-kg dry Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter Danuri following first orbital insertion burn and near 100-km perilune 16 Dec at ~17:53 UTC (17 Dec 02:52 KST); 4 lunar orbit insertion maneuvers over the next 12 days are to deliver Danuri to a 100 x 100km polar (90°) inclination orbit where it will circle Luna 12x per Earth-day utilizing 6 science payloads including ASU ShadowCam for nominal 1-year on-orbit mission duration; 35-m Korea Deep Space Antenna in Yeoju, S. Korea providing tracking and comms

Credits: KARI

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 18-21 Nov 2022

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Cislunar R&D: Antarctica Peace Treaty May Serve as Model for International Cislunar Activity

Peaceful use norms regulated by Antarctic Treaty Secretariat in Buenos Aires, Argentina may be useful example as Cislunar Technology Strategy Interagency Working Group of USA OSTP predicts human activity in cislunar space over coming decade ≥ all previous since 1957, issues 4 main guidelines in National Cislunar S&T Strategy: support for long-term growth, international cooperation, space situational awareness and comms / PNT; JHAPL issues advice for Cislunar Security; AFRL Cislunar Highway Patrol Satellite now ‘Oracle’ to be operated by Advanced Space near Earth-Moon L1 under US$72M contract

Pictured: (Clockwise) OSTP Director Arati Prabhakar, Assistant Director Matthew Daniels, Policy Fellow Kathrine Bretl, Acting Executive Director Kei Koizumi; Credits: OSTP, NASA, LinkedIn, Antarctic Treaty Secretariat

Tuesday / 15 Nov 2022

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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 / 28 Oct 2022

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Quantum Space Announces October 2024 Mission QS-1 to Earth-Moon-Lagrange Points 1 and 2 with Cislunar Superhighway Ambitions

NewSpace enterprise Quantum Space working toward self-funded launch of 400-kg satellite to collect space situational awareness data in cislunar space over 3-year mission; Main visible imager payload will be provided by GEOST, spacecraft bus to be built by Blue Canyon which will carry commercial customer payloads; Co-founded by Kam Ghaffarin (L), who also is Founder of IBX, Executive Chair at X-energy, Intuitive Machines & Axiom Space; QS-1 to utilize commercial deep space ground stations, modular cislunar communication / servicing waystations to follow

Also Pictured: Quantum Space CEO Steve Jurczyk, CTO Ben Reed;
Credits: NASA, X-Energy, IAF, Quantum Space
 

Tuesday / 4 Oct 2022

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Swedish Space Corporation (SSC) Bolstering Global Ground Station Network Ahead of Lunar Mission Demands

Ka-band (26 GHz) deep space communication facilities in Chile and Australia to be added to SSC 10-station grid including Esrange (Sweden, 68°N), Inuvik (Canada, 68°N) Siracha (Thailand, 13°N), Clewiston (Florida, 26°N) South Point ‘Pete Conrad’ Ground Station (Hawaiʻi, 19°N), WASC (Australia, 29°S) and Santiago (Chile, 33°S); SSC to provide service for CLPS providers Astrobotic and Firefly during upcoming Peregrine (NET Q4 2022) and Blue Ghost (NET 2024) landing missions; SSC partnering with CNES, Safran Data Systems of France on new antenna systems and support

Pictured: SSC CEO Stefan Gardefjord, CNES Director of Strategy Jean-Marc Astorg; Credits: SSC, Twitter

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 23-26 Sep 2022

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International Assortment of Robotic Landers Preparing for Launch to Lunar Surface

ispace Hakuto-R reportedly set to launch on SpaceX F9 during 9–15 Nov window, carrying UAE Rashid 1 rover to Moon on 3-month low-energy trajectory; Astrobotic holding to Q4 Peregrine launch amid USSF statement that BE-4 successfully demonstrated full engine performance, raising hopes for timely integration with ULA Vulcan Centaur launch vehicle; Intuitive Machines aiming for Q1 2023 Nova-C launch via SpaceX F9; ISRO Chandrayaan-3 to launch on GSLV NET Feb 2023; JAXA SLIM targeting March 2023 for launch on H-IIA

Credits: JAXA, IM, Astrobotic, ISRO, ispace

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 16-19 Sep 2022

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IAC73 Gathers Lunar Exploration Community, Optimal Landing Sites Including 4,990-m Malapert Under Consideration

Engaging 6,500+ world space professionals, International Astronautical Congress 2022 in Paris will be site of numerous high-level discussions during first Moon Exploration session 19 Sep: (L-R) Tatsuaki Hashimoto of JAXA to update on Omotenashi 6U CubeSat / micro-lander, to be deployed by Artemis 1; Daniel Andrews of NASA to share news on VIPER launching NET 2024; Steve Durst of ILOA Hawaii to present 5 Moon Missions September 2022 Update and rally support for prime South Pole landing area with Malapert Mountain: Moon High Ground Point E Awaits Landers interactive presentation

 

Credits: NASA, JAXA, ILOA