Category Archives: Lunar Volatiles

Friday / 2 Oct 2020

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‘Watts On The Moon’ Contestants Conceptualize Lunar Power Management Solutions

Latest NASA Centennial Challenge Phase 1 Runs 25 Sep To 25 March 2021; Seeks Original, Innovative Plans To Store / Distribute Thermal And Electrical Energy From Hypothetical 10kW Power Plant Located Outside Of Permanently Shadowed Region (PSR) To Resource Extraction Worksites: Regolith And Water Collectors Inside PSR, Oxygen Plant In Lit Region; Competition Offers Up To US$500K For First Phase – $100K Per Each Of 3 Mission Areas With 4 Prizes Of $50K For Runners-Up; $4.5M Prize Purse For Second Phase Starting June 2021

Credits: NASA, ESA

Friday / 10 July 2020

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NASA Supports Advanced Lunar Resource Extraction / Exploration Technologies With ~US$17M

4 Enterprises Nurtured By Phase 1 & 2 SBIR/STTR Grants Chosen To Further Refine Technologies Deemed Vital For Artemis Mission Success: Informatic Health And Spacecraft Diagnostics Systems By Qualtech Systems (CT), Regolith Refining Machinery For ISRU By Pioneer Astronautics (CO), Protoinnovations (PA) Tasked With Rover Traction Control, Fibertek (VA) To Develop Cis-Lunar Laser Communication; Post-Phase 2 Awards Range $2.5M – $5M, Designed As Final Stage Of Incubation Prior To Commercialization; Administrator Bridenstine Seeks $25.2B Appropriation From Congress To Fund Agency

Credits: NASA, Qualtech , Pioneer Astronautics, Protoinnovations, Fibertek

Tuesday / 7 July 2020

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Artemis / Sustained Moon Habitation Advances Via Lunar Dust, Power, Sterilization Investigations

NASA Awards 312 Small Businesses ~US$125K For 409 Technology Proposals ($51M Total) Through Phase 1 Of Annual NASA SBIR & STTR Programs; 9 Funded Ideas Center On Regolith Dust Mitigation, Including Electrodynamic Shielding (Hedgefog Research), Wireless Communication (Astrobotic), <1 Micron Filtration (Mainstream Engineering Corporation); Opterus R&D Will Study Heavy Duty Lunar Solar Array Concept, Paragon Space To Work On Water Collection / Purification, CU Aerospace To Develop Plasma Anti-Microbial Device; Phase 2 Will Include ‘Multi-million’ Prototyping Contracts, Market Entry Support; 27% Of Awardees Women / Minority Owned

Credits: NASA, ESA, MEC, HR, Astrobotic, PSDC, ORD, CU Aerospace

Friday / 5 June 2020

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Moon ‘Ice Favorability Index’ Created By UCF Benefits Moon Prospecting Mission Planning, Ice Formation Studies

Supported By NASA SSERVI & Center For Lunar and Asteroid Surface Science At UCF, Team Led By Kevin Cannon Creates Geological Model Of Lunar Poles, PSR / Craters And Most Likely Areas Of Ice To Determine Distribution “At Meter To Hundred-Meter Scales Relevant For Mining Operations”; Vital For Surviving Off-Earth, 1st Direct Evidence Of Water Vapor At Moon Shown By Apollo 14 In 1975 Inspiring Countless Prospecting, Science Plans; CLPS Missions Could Launch To Moon South Pole 2022, Chang’e-6 Sample Return 2021-23, Volatiles Rover 2023, 1st Human Mission 2024-25

Credits: K. Cannon via Twitter, ESA, NASA

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 15-18 May 2020

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ESA Advancing Laser Powering Techniques For Exploration Of Permanently Shadowed Lunar Craters

PHILIP (Powering Rovers By High Intensity Laser Induction On Planets) Envisions Lander Situated Between Shackleton And de Gerlache Craters Near Moon South Pole Equipped With 500-watt IR Laser Supporting Remote Exploration Of Shadowed Areas In Which Solar Power Is Inaccessible By Directing Energy To Photovoltaic Module On 250-kg Rover; 10-month Study Conducted By Leonardo Company Of Italy And National Institute Of Research And Development For Optoelectronics Of Romania, Funded By ESA Discovery & Preparation Division

Image Credits: ESA, EADS, NASA

Wednesday / 29 May 2019

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Hawai’i And Germany Scientists Developing Laser Systems For Water And 3D Printing On Moon 

University of Hawaii At Manoa Research Finds A Way To Liberate Water From Lunar Regolith; UH Scientists Use Laser To ‘Zap’ Moon Dust, Making Water Available For Human Use; Germany Laser Zentrum Hanover And Institute Of Space Systems Develop MOONRISE Laser To Melt Regolith For 3D Printing, Will Send 3-kg System To Moon With PTScientists Lander And Rover During 2021 In Tandem With International Lunar Missions

Credits: Laser Zentrum Hanover

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 12-15 Oct 2018

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Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Patrols Ahead Of Future Missions

NASA Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Returns Data And Images 9 Years After Entering Moon Orbit; Diviner Instrument Aboard LRO Along With NASA Moon Mineralogy Mapper On Chandrayaan-2 Find Widespread Water On Moon; CRaTER Cosmic Ray Telescope Characterizes Lunar Radiation Environment For Future Missions; LRO Finds And Photographs Crash Site Of Europe SMART-1 Probe Deliberately Impacted Into Moon; Produces 5-Minute Virtual Tour Of Moon In 4K; LRO Engaged To Photograph Israel SpaceIL Landing In 2019

Credits: NASA, ESA, NASA/GSFC

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 31 Aug – 3 Sep 2018

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Roscosmos, ESA Collaborate On Luna 27 Payload For Moon South Pole Resource Investigation

ESA Developing In-Situ Drill / Sample-Analysis Payload ‘PROSPECT’ To Reach Moon South Pole-Aitken Basin 2022-23 Aboard Roscosmos Luna 27 Lander; Design Phase Scheduled Early 2019; ProSEED Drill To Probe Lunar Ice Where Subsurface Temperatures Could Reach -200° C; ProSPA Onboard Laboratory To Heat Ice Sample To 1,000° C For Volatile Extraction; ESA May Participate On Luna 25 Lander Aiming For Boguslavsky Crater Near South Pole NET 2019-20

Credits: Roscosmos, ESA, NASA, L. David

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 29 June – 2 July 2018

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Chandrayaan-2 Lunar South Pole Mission To Target Water, Possibly He-3

GSLV Mk II Launch NET Oct / Nov Of 3,290-kg Chandrayaan-2 Orbiter, Lander, 6-Wheel Rover, Will Research Topography, Mineralogy, Exosphere, Prospects For Ice-Water Utilization, Consider Future Helium-3 Extraction; Rover To Operate In Semi-Autonomous Mode For 2 Weeks; ISRO Chairman K. Sivan States India Plans To Be A Leader In Space Resource Utilization, Aims To Put India Crew On Moon

Credits: ISRO, NASA

Friday / 1 Jun 2018

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Blue Origin Planning Its Contributions Toward Permanent Lunar, Solar System Settlement

Jeff Bezos, Founder Of Blue Origin, Discusses During NSS ISDC The Necessity For Moon Base Before Mars, States “We Will Do Anything We Need To Do” To Support The Future Vision Of Trillions Of People Living In Space; Planning Blue Moon Lunar Lander Cargo System 2020s, New Armstrong Rocket, Seeking International And National Public-Private Partnerships; Returning To Moon Requires ‘Step By Step Advances, Lowering Cost Of Access To Space, Reusability, Building Landers & Rovers, Exploring Craters And Determining Resources’

Credits: Blue Origin, Jeff Bezos, LRO, NASA, JPL