Category Archives: International Cooperation

International Moon Day Edition
Wednesday / 20 July 2022

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International Space / Moon Day Honors Past Achievements, Challenges Artemis Generation to Continue Exploration

UN-Declared International Moon Day (20 July) commemorating Armstrong / Aldrin first human landing on another world, fostered by Moon Village Association President Giuseppe Reibaldi and others, will be inaugurated in Huntsville AL and 39 Global Events in 24 countries / 6 continents; Robotic landings anticipated in 2022 include ispace Mission 1, Astrobotic Peregrine Mission One, Intuitive Machines IM-1; Orbiters NASA Artemis 1, KARI Danuri / NASA Capstone on route preparing for 3rd trajectory correction maneuver; Artemis 3 human Moon return NLT 4 July 2026

Credits: MVA, ESA, NASA

Friday / 15 July 2022

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Malapert Mountain Beckons Lunar Exploration, Science, Communication, Industry

As world space powers focus future landing & Moon base efforts on Moon South Pole / prospecting H2O hidden in PSRs near Shackleton Rim, critical infrastructure zone atop nearby (~130km) Malapert Massif (86°S, 0°) remains undeclared by NASA, CNSA, Roscosmos, ESA, JAXA, ISRO or SpaceX; Malapert possesses indispensable qualities for MSP buildout: A unique astrophysical vantagepoint; Constant line-of-sight to Earth (long-duration Earth observation / communication redundancy) and Shackleton (local comms and power beaming); 70%+ solar illumination; Geological significance (border area of South Pole–Aitken basin); 4 suitable 150-m landing sites have been identified by Carnegie Mellon / Astrobotic

Credits: NASA / LROC / ASU / N. Petro / ESA

Friday / 8 July 2022

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China Moon Rover Prepares For 45th Lunar Day of Exploration as NASA Declares “New Race To Space”

Yutu-2 now in sleep mode, conserving electricity generated during day via PV panels while relying on RHU heating to survive 44th lunar night; In total Yutu-2 has traversed 1,239.88 m within Von Kármán crater on Moon farside South Pole–Aitken basin over 1,282 days of operations, while Yutu traveled 114 m; Despite prognostication from NASA Administrator Bill Nelson speaking to German newspaper Bild expressing concern over “China landing on the moon and saying: It’s ours now, and you’re staying out”, there are no signs of such an effort

Pictured: Yutu-2 (L), Yutu (R); Credits: CNSA

Tuesday / 5 July 2022

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CAPSTONE Begins 4-Month Ballistic Lunar Transfer to Unique Moon Orbit

US$32.7M Capstone now being controlled from Advanced Space HQ in Colorado as it navigates 1,300,000km from Earth, utilizing Sun gravity and 8-thruster propulsion system (built by Stellar Exploration) before reaching Near Rectilinear Halo Orbit with apolune 70,000km from MSP, perilune 1,600km from MNP; Rocket Lab CEO Peter Beck heralds “perfect Moon mission success” following 28 June launch to LEO on Rocket Lab Electron / 7 raising maneuvers via Lunar Photon interplanetary stage, culminating in translunar injection from 70,000km above Iberian Peninsula

Credits: Rocket Lab, Advanced Space, NASA

Canada-USA Holiday Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 1-4 July 2022

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Closest Neighbors Canada and USA Advance Mutually Beneficial Moon Missions

North America nations share holiday weekend commemorating national foundations: Canada observes 155 years since Federation on 1 July, while USA observes 246 years since Independence Declaration 4 July; Building on ~500 past space agreements between nations, CSA-ASC to provide robotic grappler Canadarm3 for Lunar Gateway, launching NET Nov 2024, and Canada astronaut to join NASA Artemis 2 crew on mission around Moon NET May 2024; MDA working with Lockheed / GM on unpressurized, driver-optional rover for Artemis surface exploration; Canadensys supplying high definition cameras for International Lunar Observatory Association precursor mission ILO-X

Pictured: CSA-ASC Astronaut David Saint-Jacques, NASA Anne McClain
Credits: NASA

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 24-27 June 2022

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2022 Summer Around Moon About to Commence, Surface Landers Soon to Follow

Instantaneous launch window for CAPSTONE lunar orbit pathfinder set at 22:00 NZST, with live NASA coverage starting 1 hour prior; Artemis 1 mega Moon rocket deemed ready after 4th WDR reaches T-29 seconds, ship is returning to VAB for final launch preparations / hydrogen leak repair before possible 23 August inaugural launch to Moon DRO; Astrobotic CLPS Moon lander Peregrine may be first USA lander since Apollo if Q4 2022 goal is met; Astrobotic Mission 1 to carry international commercial payloads from Germany, Japan, Seychelles, Hungary, Mexico, UK, USA + 11 NASA experiments

Credits: NASA, Rocket Lab, Astrobotic

Tuesday / 7 June 2022

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Laser Technology for Earth-Moon Communication Being Developed by Space Agencies / Private Sector

TeraByte InfraRed Delivery (TBIRD), aboard PDT-3 cubesat (built / operated by Terran Orbital) aims to deliver information files from LEO at 200Gbps (USA D/L speeds average ~120Mbps); Italian Space Agency / NASA partnering on LuGRE (2023) to interface with GNSS signals from Moon via Firefly lander under CLPS; both projects utilize laser terminals and are overseen by NASA Space Communications and Navigation (SCaN); Sony Space Communications also working on miniaturized laser comms derived from Small Optical Link for International Space Station installed on Kibo module

Credits: ESA, NASA

Friday / 27 May 2022

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NASA Releases Vision Document on Artemis / Moon to Mars Plan, Asks for Public Feedback by 3 June

50 objectives of deep space exploration across 4 categories (Transportation / Habitation, Lunar / Martian Infrastructure, Operations, Science) delineated in draft list include laudable goals of continuous human presence on lunar surface, scalable power grid, autonomous ISRU construction / manufacturing, SPA basin sample return and preservation of Moon far side as radio-free zone; Deputy Administrator Melroy asks interested parties to respond with input by 3 June via online form, says feedback will help fine-tune plan and identify common areas for commercial / international collaboration

Credits: NASA

Tuesday / 24 May 2022

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International Lunar Observatory Association Gathers Support for ‘Mountain on the Moon’ ILO-1 Landing

National Space Agencies NASA, CNSA, Roscosmos, ISRO, JAXA and many commercial groups are targeting South Pole of Moon for near-term surface landings both robotic and human; Standing 4,990 meters, Malapert Mountain is clear site choice for line of sight to Earth, Shackleton, southern sky; NASA CLPS providers (Intuitive Machines, Astrobotic, Masten, Firefly), SpaceX, Blue Origin, ispace and/or major space faring agencies may facilitate ILOA flagship mission to ‘Point E’ on Malapert Mountain NET 2023

Credits: ILOA, NASA

Friday / 20 May 2022

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Artemis Human Moon Landing Announcement Expected as USA and Japan Leaders Meet

Lunar cooperation to be topic of President Biden meeting with Japan Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on 22-23 May stop of Asia tour, with Kyodo News of Toyko reporting a joint statement on Japan Astronaut participation in Artemis landings and plan outlining broad space cooperation to be released during summit; Commercial enterprise ispace and space agency JAXA planning robotic Moon landings HAKUTO-R and SLIM in late 2022 / 2023; 4th nation to launch a satellite, ISS partner nation Japan hopes to be 2nd nation with citizen on Moon

Credits: NASA, Whitehouse, Wikipedia