Category Archives: Lunar Science

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 7-10 July 2023

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India Moon Landing Mission Chandrayaan-3 Set for Liftoff

The 3,900-kg Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft (lunar lander, propulsion module, rover) now encapsulated in LVM3 payload fairing as ISRO makes final preparations for 14 July, 02:35 IST launch from Satish Dhawan Space Centre – India citizens invited to register for Launch View Gallery, vantage from southern areas of Sriharikota island / Pulicat Lake also available; Landing in MSP region (69.37°S, 32.35°E) expected 23-24 August; Mission duration is 1 lunar day (~14 Earth days) nominal, however ISRO Chairman S. Somanath is hopeful of 2nd lunar day extended operations if lander / rover survive night and recharge via solar panels

Credits: ISRO, IISc Bangalore

Friday / 30 June 2023

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4 Teams Advance in NASA Competition to Provide Energy Solutions for Lunar Night Survival

Watts on the Moon, a NASA STMD Centennial Challenges program, to award US$400,000 / ea to Phase 2, Level 2 winners who will go on to compete in Phase 2, Level 3: UC Santa Barbara Experimental Cosmology (High Efficiency Long-Range Power Solution), Michigan Technological University Planetary Surface Technology Development Lab (Tethered Mechanism for Persistent Energy Storage and Transmission), Electric Moon (Power the Moon with GaN Multilevel Converters), Orbital Mining Corporation (No Replacement For DC-placement); 2 finalists will have technology tested in vacuum chamber simulating lunar conditions and split $1.5M prize NET 2024

Pictured: MSFC Public Affairs Officer Jonathan Deal, Centennial Challenges Program Manager Denise Morris; Credits: NASA

Tuesday / 20 June 2023

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Artemis 2 Lunar Flyby Mission Advancing with Orion Testing / Integration, Crewmember Preparation

NASA will display Orion spacecraft to media in late summer including the capsule that is to fly Artemis 2 crew 8,889 km past Moon prior to lunar flyby, powered by ESA European Service Module-2 now in NASA possession at KSC undergoing testing; Orion Artemis II Optical Communications System (O2O) being integrated; Artemis 2 Mission Specialist Jeremy Hansen of CSA-ASC will carry lessons to Moon from Vision Quest with Anishinaabe Elder on Sagkeeng First Nation land in Manitoba, and is to participate in Canada Day celebrations in Ottawa 1 July and lead Calgary Stampede Parade 7 July

Credits: NASA, ESA, CSA-ASC, Twitter / @Astro_Jeremy
 

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 / 23 May 2023

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New NASA-funded Research Center to Characterize Lunar Environment and Volatile Elements / Compounds

Biochemistry Professor Thomas Orlando of Georgia Tech to lead interdisciplinary Center for Lunar Environment and Volatile Exploration Research (CLEVER) under NASA SSERVI award (US$1.5M/yr over 5 years, $7.5M total) to investigate space weather interactions with volatiles (H2O, OH, O2, CH4, H), invaluable substances for sustained human life support and energy needs of crewed Moon surface missions during Artemis and beyond; Additional CLEVER contributors are affiliated with Johns Hopkins University APL, UCF, University of Hawaiʻi, NASA AMES and KSC; 4 other lunar science teams to receive similar grants

Credits: GT, NASA

Tuesday / 9 May 2023

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New Study Confirms Solid Core of Moon, Raises Questions on Disappearance of Magnetic Field

Utilizing Monte Carlo algorithmic modelling technique, drawing from Apollo seismic and GRAIL gravity field data, researchers at CNRS, Paris Observatory and other French institutions conclude Moon contains solid inner core ~516 km diameter with ~7,822 kg / m3, likely composed of Fe, representing ~15% relative to total size (by comparison, Earth’s inner core is ~20%); Findings concur with 2011 NASA study, and suggest mantle overturn activity as mechanism; Authors stress ramifications for ‘evolution of the Moon magnetic field’; Farside Seismic Suite to further investigate structure of Moon on Draper CLPS CP-12 mission lander NET 2025

Credits: Briaud, A., Ganino, C., Fienga, A. et al. The lunar solid inner core and the mantle overturn. Nature (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-023-05935-7; NASA
 

Friday / 5 May 2023

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Lunar Payload and Climate Science Ideas Sought for NASA Entrepreneurs Challenge 2023

NASA Entrepreneurs Challenge offering US$1M in prize money for innovative concepts in two areas: commercially viable lunar payloads and climate science achievable with small instruments and / or analysis of existing available data; Contest running on HeroX crowdsourcing platform, currently 179 innovators on 22 teams competing for round 1, in which 20 $16k prizes to be awarded 10 August; 8 organizational round 2 winners to receive $85k and access to pitch opportunity at Defense TechConnect Innovation Summit and Expo 28-30 Nov in Washington DC; SMD Strategy 4.1 on diversity and inclusion to be emphasized in contest

Credits: 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 / 4 April 2023

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2-Day Online Lunar Surface Science Workshop First Steps in a Bold New Era of Human Discovery to Consider Candidate Artemis III Landing Sites

Organized by (L-R) JSC planetary scientist Samuel Lawrence and Artemis 3 project scientist Noah Petro of GSFC, supported by LPI & USRA, LSSW 19 to showcase latest research into scientific viability of 13 prospective Artemis III landing sites within 6° of MSP; Comments to be given by NASA SMD Deputy Associate Administrator Sandra Connelly, SpaceX Director of Crew Starship engineering Eduardo Velazquez, Apollo 17 Astronaut Harrison Schmitt on 4 April; Sessions devoted to Malapert, DeGerlache, Haworth and DeGerlache-Kocher Massif, Faustini and Shackleton regions to be held 5 April

Credits: NASA, LinkedIn

Friday / 17 March 2023

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Artemis 3 & 4 Human Landing Missions Science Teams to be Lead by NASA’s Noah Petro and Barbara Cohen

Newly appointed science leads for Moon South Pole A-3 and 4 missions, Petro and Cohen, are set to become vital coordinators / voices for science teams, geology teams and payload teams – to maximize science during human return to Moon 2025-2027; Petro works with LRO & LEAG, will convene LSSW #19 Artemis 3 Landing Sites Workshop 4-5 April, and presented Mons Malapert advocacy at LSSW #12; Cohen is PI for Lunar Flashlight and Ion-Trap Mass Spectrometer (aboard Astrobotic Peregrine M1), works with LRO, Mars Science Laboratory

Credits: NASA, GSFC, Jay Friedlander