Category Archives: International Cooperation

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 9-12 Feb 2024

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Next Class of Artemis Astronaut Candidates Set to Graduate

10 USA NASA and 2 UAE Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Center classmates determined to work on Moon and Mars will be awarded astronaut wings at JSC 5 March; Ceremony for candidates Nichole Ayers (Colorado), Marcos Berríos (Puerto Rico), Christina Birch (Arizona), Deniz Burnham (Alaska), Luke Delaney (Florida), Jack Hathaway (Connecticut), Anil Menon (Minnesota), Christopher Williams (Maryland), Jessica Wittner (California) and Nora Al Matrooshi & Mohammed Al Mulla of UAE to be broadcast on NASA TV / NASA+ starting 10:30 EST followed by live Q&A at 11:45

Credits: NASA

Friday / 12 Jan 2024

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China Lunar Sample Return Mission Chang’E-6 Prepares for NET May Launch to Moon Far Side

CNSA Chang’E-6 Moon spacecraft (orbiter, lander, ascender and re-entry module – totaling 8,200-kg launch mass) now at Wenchang, Hainan undergoing pre-launch tests ahead of 53-day mission to collect 2 kg of lunar regolith from Apollo crater within South Pole-Aitken Basin (~43°S, 154°W), expected to launch in May; International payloads include Detection of Outgassing Radon (DORN, France), INstrument for landing-Roving laser Retroreflector Investigations (INRRI, Italy), Negative Ions on Lunar Surface (NILS, Sweden) and iCUBE-Q 3U Cube Sat (Pakistan); Chang’E-6 is the world’s first attempt at lunar far side sample retrieval

Credits: CNSA

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 5-8 Jan 2024

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Thailand Pursuing Astronomy from the Moon, Astropark Astronomy Outreach, and International Partnerships

National Astronomical Research Institute of Thailand (NARIT) and Mahidol University preparing to conduct cislunar cosmic ray measurement with Sino-Thai Sensor Package for Space Weather Global Monitoring payload on China National Space Administration (CNSA) Chang’E-7 launching to MSP NET 2026; 2.4-m Thai National Telescope, 40-m Thai National Radio Telescope advancing astrophysics; Princess Sirindhorn AstroPark raising public astronomy awareness through initiatives such as Night at Museum; NARIT is an independent signatory to International Lunar Research Station through Deep Space Exploration Laboratory (DSEL), as is International Lunar Observatory Association (ILOA Hawai’i), Asia-Pacific Space Cooperation Organization (APSCO) and Adriatic Aerospace Association (A3)

Credits: NARIT; Pictured: NARIT Executive Director Saran Poshyachinda (R) and DSEL Chairman of the Management Committee Guan Feng (L)
 

Friday / 22 Dec 2023

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Artemis 2 Astronauts Train for Moon Flyby as VP Harris Announces International Astronaut to Join Landing Mission

While Artemis 2 NASA crewmembers Christina Koch, Victor Glover, Reid Wiseman and Jeremy Hansen (CSA-ASC) undergo emergency preparedness exercises at JSC and build public excitement for the first human mission to the Moon in 51+ years with White House press event, Vice President Kamala Harris makes firm commitment to include an international astronaut on future Artemis 3+ surface mission at 20 Dec National Space Council meeting attended by representatives of the 33-nation Artemis Accords coalition; Europe, Japan, or India are likely nations from which as-yet-unannounced crewmember will originate

Credits: NASA

Tuesday / 12 Dec 2023

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ispace and Orbit Fab Partnering on Moon Fuel Extraction and Transport

While working towards HAKUTO-R mission 2 NET 2024 and design of APEX 1.0 with Draper for CLPS CP-12 NET 2026, ispace looking to foster long-term lunar commercial development, signing MoU with Orbit Fab of Lafayette CO on in-space propellant mining / transfer technology maturation with “a series of innovative demonstrations, including resource mapping and ISRU” to be performed; Orbit Fab hopes to grow market for its Rapidly Attachable Fluid Transfer Interface (RAFTI) standard and is preparing to demonstrate 50-kg hydrazine refueling of USSF Tetra-5 utilizing Impulse Space depot Mira NET 2025

Credits: ispace, Orbit Fab

Thanksgiving Holiday Edition
Thurs-Mon / 23-27 Nov 2023

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A Robust International Moon Landing Schedule in First Half 2024

JAXA Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) lander, Astrobotic Peregrine and Intuitive Machines Nova-C Odysseus are slated to land on near side of Moon NET Jan 2024: SLIM is currently in low-energy transfer targeting 100-m landing site near Shioli crater (13.3°S) mid-Jan, Peregrine awaiting ULA Vulcan Centaur launch from KSC NET 24 Dec with late Jan landing near Gruithuisen Domes (36.56°N), Nova-C working toward late Nov shipping from TX to FL for NET 12 Jan launch on SpaceX F9 to 5-7 day direct transfer for mid-Jan landing near Malapert-A (80.3°S); CNSA Chang’E-6 to launch on Long March 5 NET May 2024 to Apollo crater within far side SPA Basin (43.0°S)

Picutred: SLIM Project Manager Shinichiro Sakai, Astrobotic CEO John Thornton, IM CEO Stephen Altemus, CLEP Designer Sun Jiadong; Credits: JAXA, Astrobotic, Intuitive Machines, CNSA, Linkedin

Friday / 3 Nov 2023

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Qosmosys Joins Commercial Lunar Lander Market Backed by US$100M Funding Round

Headquartered in Singapore with operations in Toulouse and Houston, lunar / space startup Qosmosys is led by Francois Dubrulle with threefold focus on robotics, transportation, and science enabling space exploration to Moon and beyond, a “shared responsibility of all nations and individuals” as articulated in detailed manifesto featuring wisdom of Carl Sagan, Arthur Clarke, Konstantin Tsiolkovsky; 8-m tall / 4.2-m diameter ZeusX flagship spacecraft being developed through Airbus and New Frontier Aerospace collaborations and will consist of service module, lander, rover – featuring payload capacity of 500kg to lunar orbit, 800kg to surface; Inaugural launch NET 2027

Credits: Qosmosys, Twitter / @FrancoisDubrull

Friday / 29 Sep 2023

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Japan National and Commercial Moon Landers in Transit and Under Construction

2.7-m long JAXA ‘Moon Sniper’ Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) on low-energy transit expected to reach lunar orbit NET Dec, with final 100-m2 target landing area near Shioli crater (13.3°S, 25.2°E) between Jan – Feb 2024, with imager / data link tested from 100,000-km with Earth photo and LEV rover to be activated for checks imminently; ispace working towards Mission 2 launch NET 2024 with flight model (based on Series 1) under construction at Tsukuba Space Center while Mission 3 with APEX 1.0 lander being developed with Draper now set for NET 2026; LUPEX collaboration with JAXA providing launcher / rover and ISRO providing lander to launch NET 2025

Pictured: ISRO / JAXA LUPEX team in India; Credits: JAXA, ispace

Tuesday / 19 Sep 2023

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NASA Commercial Lunar Payload Services Issues New Award to Firefly Aerospace for Astronomy from the Moon Follow-on

The second Firefly lunar mission launching NET 2026 to receive additional US$18M for frequency calibration of LuSEE-Night payload, with $112M already allotted for CLPS CS-3 task order for Moon far side delivery; LuSEE-Night is a collaboration between Space Science Laboratory and DOE (Brookhaven / Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratories), led by PI Stuart Bale of UC Berkeley, which aims to place a 4-monopole rotating antenna array to probe cosmological ‘Dark Ages’ signals between 0.1-50 MHz; Instrument calibration to utilize Elytra Dark transfer stage / lunar orbital platform, which will deliver ESA Lunar Pathfinder relay satellite being built by SSTL

Credits: Firefly, UC Berkeley

Friday / 8 Sep 2023

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Japan is Latest Nation to Join Lunar Exploration Wave with SLIM Lander on Way to Moon

JAXA controllers guiding US$100M Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) as orbital raising maneuvers set to commence, beginning fuel-efficient journey expected to take 3-4 months to reach lunar orbit with 100m-accuracy soft landing east of Shioli crater (13.2°S, 25.2°E) on 15° slope in late Jan / early Feb 2024; Advanced vision-based navigation system and belly landing technique to allow ‘landing where we want’ per JAXA President Hiroshi Yamakawa, capabilities to be utilized in JAXA-ISRO LUPEX polar mission NET 2025, Lunar Cruiser pressurized crew vehicle for Artemis late 2020s, and mid-sized lunar cargo lander early 2030s

Credits: JAXA