Category Archives: Lunar Science

Tuesday / 14 March 2023

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LEAG Holding Town Hall Periphery Event at 54th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference

Interdisciplinary Lunar Exploration Analysis Group (LEAG), tasked with advising NASA HEOMD, SMD and NAC, to host hybrid Town Hall 16 March from 12:00-13:00 CDT at Houston-area convention center / online with Microsoft Teams; Presentations include Continuous Lunar Orbital Capabilities Specific Action Team Final Report from Paul Lucey (Hawai’i Institute of Geophysics & Planetology), Lunar Exploration and Science Orbiter from Michael Amato (NASA Exploration Science Strategy Integration Office), Joining The Moon And Mars Communities To A Common Goal by Clive Neal (University of Notre Dame) with Q&A to follow

Pictured (L-R):Amy Fagan, Erica Jawin, Paul Lucey, Michael Amato, Joel Kearns, Clive Neal; Credits: NASA, LinkedIn, Twitter / @NMNH, SSERVI, LPSC, LEAG, ND

Friday / 3 March 2023

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Moon Time Standardization May Advance International Cislunar Communication, Navigation Capabilities

Interoperable ‘LunaNet’ communication / navigation protocol initiative will require agreement on common time on & around Moon similar to Coordinated Universal Time on Earth & Earth orbit, per ESA statement; Standard Moon time would enable NASA Lunar Communications Relay and Navigation Systems, ESA Moonlight and other nodes in Moon network to share spatial measurement as with Earth-based International Terrestrial Reference Frame used by GNSS; Nature and composition of governing organization and whether to fix Moon time to Earth time or create independent local selenocentric system TBD by lunar stakeholders

Pictured: ESA Moonlight Navigation Manager Javier Ventura-Traveset, ESA Navigation Engineer Pietro Giordano; Credits: ESA, NASA, Twitter

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 24-27 Feb 2023

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International Moon Missions Operating in Lunar Orbit as Wave of Landers Approach / Prep for Launch

 NASA / Advanced Space CAPSTONE orbiter prepares for spacecraft-to-spacecraft positioning test with LRO; KPLO Danuri imaging heritage areas – first robotic Moon landing (Luna-9) site in Oceanus Procellarum, first lunar rover (Lunokhod 1) landing site in Mare Imbrium – and Earth phases; ispace progressing on ballistic lunar transfer, now moving at ~520 m/s, will soon begin control burns to decrease speed on approach, landing expected NET late April; JAXA SLIM launching NET April; Astrobotic Peregrine to launch on inaugural Vulcan Centaur flight NET 4 May; Intuitive Machines launching Nova-C NET late June

Pictured: ispace Spaceflight Operations Engineer Sam Richards; Credits: KARI, ispace, LinkedIn

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 3-6 Feb 2023

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International Wave of Robotic Moon Missions Prepare for Launch, Landing, Lunar Surface Exploration and Science

12 spacecraft currently operate in cislunar space, 2 landers (CE-3, 4) and 1 rover (Yutu-2) function on the lunar surface; 6 lander missions prepare to join: ispace HAKUTO-R now ~1,300,000 km from Earth, due to arrive NET April; JAXA SLIM with LEV-2 demonstrator payload may follow NET April; Astrobotic with Peregrine lander awaits ULA Vulcan Centaur readiness for engine and launch vehicle integration, launch NET Q1 – PM1 now targeting silica-rich Gruithuisen Domes (Mons Gruithuisen Gamma / Mons Gruithuisen Delta) at ~36°N x 40°W; Intuitive Machines Nova-C launching to 3-6 day direct transit in H1; Chandrayaan-3 NET June; Roscosmos Luna-25 NET July

Credits: NASA, ispace, Astrobotic

Tuesday / 10 Jan 2022

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Radio Astronomy from the Moon Initiatives Progressing via NASA NIAC, Preliminary Missions Scheduled Through 2025

CLPS Science 3 delivery to Moon farside to be 9th in program NET 2025 by TBD lander provider; CS-3 payload LuSEE-Night to observe radio frequencies <50MHz, 21-cm big bang signals via spectroscopy; Also launching NET 2025 is CLPS PRISM-12 with LuSEE-Lite precursor on Draper Series 2 lander; IM-1 mission to carry Radio-wave Observations at the Lunar Surface of the photoElectron Sheath (ROLSES) NET March; Mega structure radio observatory concept LCRT receiving support via NIAC, FARSIDE may partner with Blue Origin, Farview working with Lunar Resources; Open Lunar study with SGAC suggests ‘single international radio observatory’ be planned to preserve lunar radio-quiet

Pictured: FARSIDE PI Jack Burns, ROLSES PI Natchimuthuk Gopalswamy, LCRT PI Saptarshi Bandyopadhyay, LuSEE PI Stuart Bale; Credits: NASA, UC Boulder, UC Berkeley, Vladimir Vustyanky / JPL

Tuesday / 15 Nov 2022

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NASA Moon Flagship Artemis 1 Ready for Inaugural Launch to Lunar Orbit and Secondary Payload Deep Space Delivery

Weather forecast estimated at 90% favorable for 2-hour window set to begin on 16 Nov 01:04 EST for launch of Artemis 1 mission from historic KSC Launch Pad 39B; Live broadcast to begin with SLS core stage fueling with Launch Control Center commentary at 15:30 on 15 Nov followed by launch coverage starting at 10:30, continuing through SRB (~T+2 minutes), core stage (T+8 minutes) and upper (Interim Cryogenic Propulsion) stage separation and TLI; Post-launch news conference with mission team scheduled for 04:00 16 Nov

Pictured: (Clockwise) NASA Administrator Bill Nelson, Artemis Mission Manager Michael Sarafin, JSC Flight Director Emily Nelson, Orion Program Manager Howard Hu, SLS Program Manager John Honeycutt, Exploration Ground Systems Program Manager Mike Bolger; Credits: NASA, LinkedIn, ULA

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 4-7 Nov 2022

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Rocket Lab Solar Panels to be Integrated on Artemis Lunar Gateway PPE by Maxar as Thales Alenia Welds HALO Module

Panels of 30% efficienct Z4J multi-junction solar cells made by Rocket Lab subsidiary SolAero Technologies (Albuquerque NM) under contract for Maxar Technologies, builder of Lunar Gateway Power and Propulsion Element; Redwire subsidiary Deployable Space Systems (Goleta CA) to integrate panels into PPE Roll Out Solar Array, providing ~70 kW to power 6 kW Hall-effect ion thrusters made by Busek (Natick MA); PPE to launch with Cygnus-based Habitation and Habitation and Logistics Outpost (HALO) NET Nov 2024, forming core of cislunar space station; HALO being fabricated by Thales Alenia in Turin, Italy for Northrop Grumman

Credits: Rocket Lab, NASA, Northrop Grumman, Thales Alenia

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 / 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

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 12-15 Aug 2022

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Commercial and National Moon Mission Cadence to Continue Through 2022, Increase in 2023

Artemis 1 launching to Moon orbit NET 29 Aug with 10 rideshare cubesats, NASA test dummy Commander Moonikin Campos, DLR / ISA torso radiation ‘phantoms’ Helga & Zohar, mascots Snoopy & Shaun the Sheep; Race to landings led by ispace, aiming for Nov launch, Astrobotic working to launch NET Dec, seeking to acquire Masten assets with US$4.5M bid; Intuitive Machines striving for Jan 2023 followed by ISRO Chandrayaan-3 NET Q1, JAXA SLIM NET March and Roscosmos Luna-25 NET September; Xplore of Redmond WA and Turkish Space Agency have also declared for uncrewed lunar orbit in 2023, SpaceX plans crewed dearMoon

Credits: Lockheed Martin, NASA, ispace, ESA