Category Archives: International Cooperation

Friday / 13 December 2024

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ILOA-CSA Galaxy Forum China 2024 in Wenchang Impacts Global, Inter-Global Cooperation for Moon / Solar System

Experts from 13 countries at Galaxy Forum exchange visionary ideas on astronomy from the Moon, international human Moon landings, first women on the Moon, NewSpace commercial, lunar property rights, and planned international lunar base projects / payloads; Lunar talks included Wang Wei (CNSA, DSEL), Xuelei Chen (NAOC), Bernard Foing (ILEWG), Margarita Safonova (M. P. Birla, India), Jatan Mehta (Moon Monday), Boonrucksar Soonthornthum (NARIT), Mei Yang (CAST), Steve Durst (ILOA Hawai’i), many others; Galaxy Forum 2024 in Wenchang, near to Wenchang Space Launch Center and Wenchang Aerospace City, hopes to influence and advance robust, international, peaceful, scientific exploration of the Moon and complete Solar System in the 21st Century, with Aloha   

Credits: International Lunar Observatory Association, Chinese Society of Astronautics  

Tuesday / 3 December 2024

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Two Lunar Landers at Kennedy Space Center Awaiting Launch, Third Will Soon Arrive

JAXA / ispace lunar lander Mission 2 Resilience is now at KSC preparing to carry Tenacious micro rover / commercial payloads including a model house to Mare Figoris, 60.5° N, 4.6° W, is called “culmination of the Hakuto-R program; Firefly Aerospace Blue Ghost lander awaits launch from LC39A during 6-day window mid-January, carries 10 payloads including for NASA CLPS to Mare Crisium after 45-day journey with orbits of Earth and Moon; Intuitive Machines Nova-C lander Athena for IM-2 mission expected to arrive soon at KSC, will carry NASA CLPS payloads to Mouton Plateau (Leibnitz); all will launch NET January via SpaceX Falcon 9

Credits: JAXA / ispace, Firefly Aerospace, Intuitive Machines

Tuesday / 26 November 2024

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Multiple Events in Luxembourg, Include Moon Focus

Luxembourg, home of ISRU legal framework, hosts Moon Village Association (MVA) 8th Global Moon Village Workshop & Symposium 2-3 Dec co-hosted by Luxembourg Space Agency (LSA), MVA major annual forum for new ideas / progress reports about Moon exploration / utilization, lunar governance / industrialization / infrastructure / technologies; LSA also sponsors Luxembourg Space Week 2-5 Dec with NewSpace Europe 3 Dec for networking among start-ups / agencies / investors, IRG First European Interstellar Symposium 2-5 Dec featuring Pete Worden, ESA Space for Inspiration 4-5 Dec with Day 2 main session on Moon economy / logistics / communication / navigation

Credits: European Convention Center, Moon Village Association, Luxembourg Space Agency, Interstellar Research Group, European Space Agency

Friday / 22 November 2024

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Thailand GISTDA / NARIT Promote Moon Missions

Thailand Geo-Informatics and Space Technology Development Agency (GISTDA), organizes Space Week, participates in Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), counts 35,000 Thai businesses linked to space, signed Artemis Accords via director Pakorn Petchprayoon, signed MoU with muSpace / ispace for lunar collaboration; National Astronomical Research Institute of Thailand (NARIT) does astronomy / related sciences, educates, signed with Deep Space Exploration Laboratory (DSEL) / International Lunar Research Station (ILRS) via Executive Director Saran Poshyachinda for South Pole Moon base and precursors, will have 3 kg space weather monitor on Chang’E-7 orbiter NET 2026; Thai instrument or robot planned for Chang’E-8 lander NET 2028

Credits: GISTDA, NARIT, NASA

Tuesday / 22 October 2024

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ISRO Aims to Confirm Lunar Water with Chandrayaan 4 / 5 Moon Landers

P Veeramuthuvel of ISRO reports Chandrayaan 4 to launch NET 2027-2028 for surface / sub-surface sample return, landing 85-90° S in region where permanently shadowed regions (PSRs) are hoped to harbor water ice, will need 2 launches / remote docking in orbit; Chandrayaan 5, ISRO-JAXA collaboration now called LUPEX flies NET 2028-2029, 6,000-kg lander taking rover precisely to 89.45° S / 222.85° E on ridge between Shackleton / de Gerlache craters near PSRs, similar to China Chang’E-7 / abandoned VIPER missions, surviving lunar night is core goal, likely to use same Americium-352 radioisotope heater units (RHUs) as Chandrayaan 3

Credits: Arizona State University, ISRO, JAXA, IAF

Tuesday / 24 September 2024

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Moonquake Mitigation Being Examined for Upcoming 21st-Century Human Landings

Moonquakes can last hours, earthquakes seconds; Astronauts left lunar seismometers 50 years ago showing South Pole-region epicenters likely due to global shrinkage from core cooling; University of Texas researchers used JAXA funding to decipher Moon seismograph data; 7 researchers, T.R. Watters, et al, published 25 January 2024 in Planetary Science Journal that Malapert Massif / other proposed Artemis landing sites not landslide-threatened, but structures / materials / gravity need to accommodate shaking / quivering / trembling say San Francisco engineering firm / American Society of Civil Engineering under a NASA grant

Credits: (NASA/LRO/LROC/ASU/Smithsonian Institution) (L-fault; R-blue box indicates potential Artemis landing site, dot indicates landslide likelihood)

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 17-20 May 2024

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In Peace for All?

As USA, China, and India advance toward declared human Moon landings, cooperative models of interaction based on existing international agreements regarding Antarctica and the High Seas may inform lunar activities; Antarctic Treaty (1959) proscribes aggression under Article 1, ‘Antarctica shall be used for peaceful purposes only’ as does Convention on the High Seas (1958), Article 88, ‘The high seas shall be reserved for peaceful purposes’, sentiments which should serve as conceptual guidance for Moon agreements under consideration by UNOOSA / UN COPUOS, Artemis Accords, ILRS, NASA OTPS, ILOA, MVA and other stakeholders

 
Credits: NASA, UN

Friday / 17 May 2024

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USA Space Thought Leaders Express Urgency of Moon Return and Maintaining Human Presence in Space

Invoking concepts such as rule of law, democracy, and human rights, former NASA director / Astronaut (T-B) Charles Bolden, George Washington University professor Scott Pace and retired USSF officer William Liquori call for ‘generational shift’ toward commercial human outposts in cis-lunar and near-Earth space as ‘critical lunar geography’ such as the lunar south pole and far side regions increase in international strategic, economic, scientific interest and activity; Citing 24 years of continuous human occupation of ISS, co-authors stress crewed spaceflight is ‘ultimate venue’ for establishing ethical and legal norms with Apollo ‘Peace for All’ heritage

 
Credits: NASA

Friday / 10 May 2024

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NASA Soliciting Thoughts on Landing Site Value and Non-Interference in Lunar Operations

Expanding on Artemis Accords Section 11 (Deconfliction of Space Activities), which evokes legal concepts such as ‘due regard’ and ‘safety zones’ in consideration of activity on the Moon with potential to interfere in the activities of another signatory, NASA Office of Technology, Policy, and Strategy (OTPS) seeking guidance on landing site valuation (with special emphasis on MSP), how such value may degrade with contamination and mitigation measures; Secure World Foundation, Moon Village Association, For All Moonkind, Open Lunar Foundation among stakeholder groups working to formulate lunar policy; Questionnaire due 7 June 2024

 
Pictured: OTPS Associate Administrator Charity Weeden; Credits: CNSA, NASA

Friday / 3 May 2024

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Moonbase Analog Missions and Lunar Agriculture Simulations Being Conducted on Hawai’i Island

As the Artemis era of Moon exploration gains momentum, the youngest island in the Hawaiian archipelago (composed largely of cooled lava rock similar to lunar regolith) is contributing to the effort to return Humans to Luna, as reported in the May 2024 PISCES Newsletter: Space Exploration and Analog Simulation (HI-SEAS), which runs a 111-m2 geodesic dome located at 2,500 m elevation on the north slope of Mauna Loa, is forming crews for 6-day ($1,100) and 2-week mission analogs ($2,200); UH Hilo ‘Lunar Vulcans’ team conducing experiment under $1,500 NASA MINDS grant on growth of Hawaiian ‘canoe plants’ (those brought to the island by its original Polynesian inhabitants) within basalt mediums, watered via hydroponic capillary-action irrigation

 
Credits: HI-SEAS