Category Archives: International Cooperation

Tuesday / 18 Oct 2022

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Moon Village Association and Beyond Earth Institute Advance Lunar Sustainability and Habitation

MVA Global Expert Group on Sustainable Lunar Activities (GEGSLA) meeting for 21st time on 19 October to formulate recommendations on sustainable governmental and independent Moon exploration best practices to be presented to United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Use of Outer Space; Meeting will conclude ‘Consensus Phase’, with ‘Harmonization Phase’ to follow for next 2 meetings (16 Nov, 21 Dec); Beyond Earth Institute also promotes guidelines for political, economic and environomental sustainability in paper Toward A Cislunar Ecosystem With Human Presence: The Underpinning For Permanent Lunar Communities

Credits: MVA, BEI

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 14-17 Oct 2022

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2023 Lunar Missions on the Horizon as Artemis 1 Flyby and M1 Lander Preparing for Launches

NASA and ispace poised for 2022 Moon flyby / robotic landing, while several missions now targeting 2023; Astrobotic, Intuitive Machines, ISRO, JAXA to launch Peregrine, Nova-C and Chandrayaan-3, SLIM landers NET Q1; Roscosmos plans Luna-25 launch via Soyuz-2.1b NET Q3; Also within 2023 Intuitive Machines striving to launch IM-2 mission including first satellite of lunar data relay ‘Khonstellation’, μNova hopper, SHERPA-ES tug, Orbit Fab Tanker-002 in-space fuel depot; Rocket Factory Augsburg to begin deployment of Harmony cislunar constellation; SpaceX to take Yusaku Maezawa and 8 selected crew, 1-2 professional astronauts on dearMoon lunar flyby with Starship

Credits: ISRO, SpaceX, RFA, dearMoon

Friday / 14 Oct 2022

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ispace Counting Down to Mission 1 Launch, Hoping to Achieve First Successful Commercial Lunar Lading

M1 lander with integrated payloads from NGK (solid-state battery), Canadensys (360° cameras), UAE Rashid rover, JAXA transformable lunar robot to depart testing site IABG Space Centre in Ottobrunn, Germany for KSC LC-39, launching as secondary rideshare on SpaceX F9 rocket NET 9-15 November window; 3-month low-energy lunar transfer, tracked by ESA ESTRACK ground stations in Guiana, Australia, Spain, Argentina and UK, to be followed by 12-day lunar mission; 200+ employee ispace has US$237M+ funding, planning M2 NET 2023, M3 with Draper under $73M CLPS award NET 2025

Credits: ispace, MBRSC

Friday / 7 Oct 2022

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CNSA Offering Payload Rideshares on Chang’E-7 MSP Lander Launching NET 2026

International science experiments / technology demonstrations encouraged to apply for space on Chang’E-7 Moon mission to a crater rim within South Pole-Aitken basin less than 5° from Moon South Pole; Announcement of Opportunity specifies payload parameters: 300mm×150mm×150mm maximum physical dimensions, -180°C to 80°C lunar surface operating temperature, ≤10kg mass, ≤50W power consumption; Applicants to submit letter of intent by 1 Feb 2023 for 1 April preliminary selection, full proposals due 1 June 2023

Credits: CNSA

Tuesday / 20 Sep 2022

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Moon South Pole is Target for Increasing Number of International Robotic and Human Missions 2023-28

CLPS provider Intuitive Machines to redirect IM-1 mission NET Q1 2023 from mid-latitude to MSP at NASA request, IM-2 already slated for Shackleton Connecting Ridge (89.5°S); ISRO Chandrayaan-3 targeting 71°S NET Feb 2023; Roscosmos Luna-25 aiming for 70°S NET 2023; Astrobotic to deliver VIPER rover to 85°S NET Nov 2024; CNSA Chang’E-7 to land near (L-R) Shackleton (90°S), Nobile (85°S) or Haworth (87°S) craters NET 2026; Artemis 3 to target 1 of 13 regions within 6° of MSP via SpaceX HLS; 6.25-day Polar Sortie Mission and 33-day Polar Excursion Mission on 2nd HLS to be awarded May 2023, launch NET 2028

Credits: NASA, IM

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

Tuesday / 16 Aug 2022

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CAPSTONE Team Celebrates 2022 Mission of the Year Award for Cislunar Orbital Pathfinder

AIAA Small Spacecraft Technical Committee honors Capstone at 36th SmallSat Conference in Utah; Partners on the <US$30M mission include Advanced Space / PI Bradley Cheetham, providing overall project management, Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System (set to interface with LRO) and Ballistic Lunar Transfer / Near Rectilinear Halo Orbit trajectories; Tyvak Nano-Satellite Systems (founded by Jordi Puig-Suari of Cal Poly, co-inventor of the CubeSat standard) and parent company Terran Orbital, who designed, built and operate 25kg, 12U Capstone; Stellar Exploration, manufacturer of hydrazine propulsion system; Launch provider Rocket Lab

Credits: AIAA SmSTC, 2022 SmallSat Conference, Advanced Space, Terran Orbital, Rocket Lab, Stellar exploration

Tuesday / 9 Aug 2022

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KARI Prepares to Conduct Science Operations from Moon Orbit with KPLO, Considering Lunar Outpost

Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter is headed to 100-km polar orbit around Moon, powered by four 30-N Orbit Maneuver Thrusters on ~ 19-week journey; 6 science instruments include Gamma Ray Spectrometer to monitor y-ray emissions during trip / from lunar orbit within 10 keV to 10 MeV range; NASA ShadowCam based on LRO LROC with 800x sensitivity to map PSRs; Ministry of Science official Kwon Hyun-joon tells NYT Moon has “potential to act as a base for further deep space exploration”; 2nd stage of Korean Lunar Exploration Program to feature lunar orbiter / lander / rover launched from S Korea NLT 2030

Credits: KARI, SpaceX, Yonhap

Wednesday / 27 July 2022

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Galaxy Forum Southeast Asia (GFSEA), Singapore Considers Lunar Commercial Communications, Pan Asia Astro Cooperation

GFSEA engaging regional astronomical / astronautical space leaders in dialogue at iconic ArtScience Museum 27 July on 3 themes: Considerations for Southeast Asia Space Agency (SEASA), Asia Astronomy Organization (AAO) modeled on European Southern Observatories, and Lunar Commercial Communications (LCC) – expanding commercial communications by 1,240x; Moderated by Singapore Space and Technology Limited President Jon Hung, LCC panel includes International Lunar Observatory Association Hawaii Director Steve Durst, Qosmosys CEO Francois Dubrulle, Transcelestial Technologies Engineer Jan Smisek; ILOA ILO-X precursor NET 22 Dec 2022, ILO-1 flagship NET 2024 missions for astronomy, observations and communications from the Moon

Credits: ILOA, NASA, CSYS, Twitter, Linkedin

Friday / 22 July 2022

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ispace Conducting Final Testing on HAKUTO-R Flight Model for November Launch Window

Operating in Japan, USA and Luxembourg, ispace may reach Moon surface within 2022 with Hakuto-R undergoing final thermal vacuum, vibration and function checks at IABG Space Centre near Munich Germany; Flight-ready Mission 1 lander expected to ship to KSC in Sep, launch via SpaceX F9 NET Nov carrying UAE MBRSC and JAXA rovers, flight computer and cameras from Canada enterprises Mission Control Space Services and Canadensys, NGK solid-state battery, engraved panels with supporter names

Credits: ispace