Category Archives: Human Moon Missions

Tuesday / 6 June 2023

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European Space Agency Director General Working to Achieve Human Launch Capability, Crewed Moon Landings

ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher makes clear his desire for Europe to achieve independent space capabilities with parity to China, USA, India including human launch / Moon landings in comments given to Financial Times, host of Investing in Space conference in London 5-6 June; Ariane 6 making inaugural launch NET 2024 could serve as basis for human-rated launch system, commercial crew-style model also being considered; ESA member nations to vote on funding proposals at November Space Summit in Seville, Spain – members currently have agreed to ~ EUR€16.9B / 3 year funding (US$18.1B)

Credits: ESA, Arianespace

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 2-5 June 2023

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Chinese on Moon 2020s?

China Manned Space Agency Deputy Director Lin Xiqiang reaffirms national commitment to crewed lunar landings in 2020s, echoing similar declaration by Wu Weiren, CLEP Chief Designer in late April; NASA Administrator Bill Nelson warns of territorialism at MSP, expresses desire to “preserve those potential [water] reserves for the international community” in interview with Spanish media; India, Russia, Japan and USA set to join China in operating robotically on Moon in summer / autumn 2023 with Chandrayaan-3 launch NET July 12, Luna-25 and SLIM NET August, IM and Astrobotic CLPS landers NET Q3

Credits: ILRS, OpenAI, People’s Daily / TikTok

Weekend Edition
Fri-Tues / 26-30 May 2023

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Blue Origin Team to Land Precursor Missions NET 2024 / 2025 Ahead of Uncrewed HLS Demo & Artemis 5

Under Sustaining Lunar Development $3.4B contract, ‘National Team’ composed of Blue Origin, Lockheed Martin, Draper, Boeing, Astrobotic and Honeybee Robotics to land uncrewed mission demonstrating life support and NRHO ascent capability followed by Artemis 5, in which 2 crew-members are to be ferried by Blue Moon lander from Gateway station to surface, aided by Cislunar Transporter LH2/LOX fuel depot NET 2029; Prior to contracted landings, 2 self-funded landings are take place NET 2024 / 2025 as part of technology maturation process; Blue Origin reportedly investing ≥ NASA’s $3.4B award in HLS

Credits: Blue Origin

Friday / 26 May 2023

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Artemis Lunar Scientists and Operations Experts Brainstorm While Clive Neal Advances Lunar Resource Utilization

How best to meet goals outlined in Artemis 3 Science Definition Report within operational constraints (e.g., 8 hours of aggregate EVA time, up to 2 hours in PSR) being considered in series of collaborative USRA / LPI Lunar Surface Science Workshops; Niki Werkheiser, Anne Garber, Cindy Evans, Sarah Noble among NASA team members engaging in science operation architecture development with 180+ participants in latest LSSW 19 on Integrating Science into Artemis; Next LSSW on lunar mapping to be held Aug 16-17; May AIAA Space Resources Webinar hosted by Clive Neal on Immediate Next Steps Towards Using Lunar Resources to Sustain Human Exploration & Drive the Cislunar Economy to be available on YouTube

Credits: ESA

Tuesday / 16 May 2023

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Closer NASA / SpaceX Collaboration May Mitigate Environmental Controversy Around Starship Testing

Ongoing litigation pursued by Surfrider Foundation, American Bird Conservancy & others over amended 2015 environmental impact assessment under which FAA allows SpaceX to operate 20-acre Starbase facility near Boca Chica TX (25.6° N, 97.1° W) raising concerns over possible impact to NET Dec 2025 Artemis 3 human Moon landings; Environmental policy expert Eric Roesch argues Starbase is fundamentally incompatible with launch testing due to nature reserve proximity, urges NASA involvement; Kathy Lueders to join SpaceX, overseeing Starship safety

Credits: NASA, SpaceX

Friday / 12 May 2023

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Space Professionals Express Optimism for Moon Exploration, Growing Public Support Reflected in Poll

Artemis 2 Mission Specialist Jeremy Hansen links earthbound challenges (food security, healthcare, climate) to human exploration of the Moon, enabling “eight billion people to row in the same direction and work on these problems”; National Air and Space Museum curator Jennifer Levasseur tells Milwaukee Journal Sentinel she sees “palpable” increase in engagement of young people with space installations; Economist / YouGov survey confirms these sentiments, with 64% of USA adults supporting human Moon landings, with 23% favoring national leadership, 11% preferring commercial entities taking charge while 48% want a dual approach

Credits: NASA, SpaceX

Friday / 28 April 2023

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China Aiming for Boots on Moon this Decade as ispace of Japan Reviews M1 Telemetry Data

CLEP Chief Designer Wu Weiren emphatically states there is ‘no question’ that Taikonauts will have landed on Moon by 2030 as lunar build-out plans including ‘Red Star’ crater and ‘Clover’ lunar surface 4-module base designs intended to shelter 3-4 Moon explorers and ‘Chinese Super Mason’ autonomous 3D brick-printing robot; CE-6 launching NET 2025, CE-7 NET 2026, Super Mason slated for in-situ demo during CE-8 NET 2028; Meanwhile ispace working to determine cause of Hakuto-R landing failure after accomplishing 8 of 10 milestone goals, planning M2 NET 2024, M3 with Draper under $73M CLPS award NET 2025

Credits: CNSA, Royal Aeronautical Society, NASA

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 21-24 April 2023

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China Celebrates Space Day as Nation Works Towards Human Moon Landings Before 2030

400+ China Space Day events will be held throughout China, commemorating the launch of Dongfanghong-1 on 24 April 1970 and sharing the excitement of space exploration, especially the prospect of human Moon missions before the end of the decade lifted by Long March 10 (previously known as ‘921’ and ‘LM-5DY’) 3-core stage rocket, expected to make inaugural launch NET 2027 and / or a redesigned single-core stage, reusable Long March 9 launching NET 2030; A new-generation crew capsule and staged descent lander are planned to complete the ambitious plan

Pictured: CNSA Deputy Director of the Department of System Engineering Lyu Bo; Credits: CNSA, CLEP, AAAS, NASA

Tuesday / 18 April 2023

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Starship Launch Slated for This Week, a Variant is to Carry First Human Moon Missions Artemis 3 / 4 to Surface

Starship in HLS form – minus aerodynamic fins / heat shielding, plus mid-body RCS thrusters – is to land uncrewed demo prior to carrying 2 Artemis astronauts from lunar orbit (transferred from Orion, launched by SLS) to surface near MSP under Option A US$2.89B contract NET Dec 2025 and Artemis 4 NET Sept 2028 under $1.15B Option B; Lunar missions to utilize ‘tanker’ and ‘depot’ scheme in which HLS will be refueled in NRHO; Artemis 5 onward to have TBD alternative lander under NextSTEP Appendix P

Pictured: SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, Starship Engineering Director Shana Diez, Starship Engineering VP Joe Petrzelka in Starship Mission Control; Credits: SpaceX, Twitter / @WalterIsaacson

Friday / 7 April 2023

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Artemis 2 Crew Set to Be First Astronauts to Reach Moon in Modern Era, Travel Further from Earth than Any Previous Mission

Commander Reid Wiseman, Pilot Victor Glover, and Mission Specialists Christina Hammock Koch & Jeremy Hansen are training intensively for 10-day lunar flyby Artemis 2 mission launching to multiple-burn trans lunar injection NET Nov 2024; Luna flyby will take crew 7,400 km past Moon, setting record for distance currently held by Apollo 13 (1970), which flew 254 km from lunar far side; Koch, Glover and Hansen to be first woman, person of color and non-USA citizen (respectively) to fly past LEO, cross Van Allen Belts and flyby Moon

Credits: NASA