Category Archives: Moon Exploration

Friday / 23 Aug 2019

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Planetary Scientists Support NASA Budget Request For Lunar Discovery And Exploration Program

76 Lunar And Planetary Science Community Members Sign Letter Supporting Lunar Discovery And Exploration Program Along With An Increased NASA FY2020 Budget Request; Scientists Point Out That Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) Program Provides Opportunities For Science Payloads; Signers Of Letter Include (L To R) Clive Neal Of Notre Dame University, Jeffrey Taylor From University Of Hawai’i, Jack Burns From University Of Colorado, Carle Pieters Of Brown University, Astronaut Harrison Schmitt, And Bob Richards Of Moon Express

Credits: Moon Express, Notre Dame University, University of Hawaii

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 16-19 August 2019

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Orion Tests Propulsion System; NASA Marshall Space Flight Center Managing Artemis Lunar Lander

European-Built Orion Service Module Completes Critical 12-Minute Firing Of Propulsion System At White Sands, New Mexico, Simulating Insertion Into Lunar Orbit And Return Trajectory To Earth; NASA Administrator Bridenstine With Members Of Congress Announce Marshall Space Flight Center Will Manage Artemis Lunar Lander With Large Portion Of Work At Johnson Space Center In Houston; Lisa Watson-Morgan Will Manage Lander Program; Orion Environmental Tests Will Be Conducted At Glenn Research Center

Credits: NASA

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 9-12 August 2019

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Canadian Space Agency (CSA) Announces Lunar Surface Autonomous Science Payloads (LSASP) R&D Request For Proposal

6 Contracts Are Being Offered By Public Works And Government Services Canada (PWGSC) To Study And Develop Technology Beneficial To Future CSA Lunar Missions; Concept Studies May Be Funded Up To CAD$200K, Research Including Technology Development May Be Funded Up To CAD$700K (US$526K); Duration Of Contracts Are Up To 18 Months, Deadline Is 27 Sep @ 14:00 EDT; RFP Scope Of Work States, “Polar Destinations, In Particular, The Far Side South Pole Destination Are The Most Likely Destinations Of Interest And The Primary Targets”

Credits: NASA, CSA/ASC, Moon Express Canada

Tuesday / 30 July 2019

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We Could Land On The Moon In Less Than Two Years, Says SpaceX CEO Elon Musk

In Wide-Ranging Interview July 12 With TIME Magazine, Musk, Founder Of The Only Launch Provider To Innovate Reusable Rockets, Makes Bold Statements On Moon Exploration And Settlement Timeline, Indicating That SpaceX Could Send Crewed Lunar Mission Within 4 Years, Uncrewed Within 2; Musk Emphasizes The Need For Permanent Antarctica-Style Science Base; Says ‘Overarching Philosophy’ Depends On Expanding Consciousness, Enlightenment, Sustainability, And ‘Making Life Multi-Planetary’

Credits: NASA, SpaceX

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 26-29 July 2019

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Chandrayaan-2 and Rising India-Zhongguo Space Age Cooperation

India Chandrayaan-2 Successfully En Route To Moon; Third Earth Orbit Raising Maneuver Expected 29 July; Trans Lunar Insertion Is Planned For 14 Aug And Lunar Orbit Insertion 20 Aug; 1,470-kg Vikram Lander And 27-kg Pragyan Rover Scheduled To Land 7 Sep Near Manzinus C And Simpellius N Craters At 70° S Latitude In South Polar Region; Payloads Include 22-g Retroreflector; Wu Weiren Of Chang’e-4 Mission And Hua Chunying Of Zhongguo Foreign Ministry Call For Cooperation With India In Lunar Exploration

Credits: ISRO, NASA

Friday / 26 July 2019

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Artemis Spacecraft, Service Module, And Habitability Module Making Progress Toward 2024 Human Lunar Landing  

Orion Is Ready For Integration Into Artemis-1 Mission Planned By 2021; Vice President Pence At KSC Unveils Spacecraft Accompanied By Buzz Aldrin And Rick Armstrong Before Visiting Launch Complex 39A; Northrop Grumman Is Awarded Contract To Develop Minimum Habitation Module Based Upon Cygnus Spacecraft; ESA Formally Agrees To Contribute Additional Orion Service Module For Artemis-3 Human Lunar Landing; White House Reaffirms Commitment To Send Next Man And First Woman To Moon In 5 Years

Credits: NASA

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 5-8 July 2019

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Colorado Experiments To Be Sent To Lunar Surface

Payloads For Commercial Lunar Services Providers Include Surface Electromagnetics Experiment, Which Could Be First Radio Telescope On Moon Surface; Co-Investigator Jack Burns Of University Of Colorado Is Also Principal Investigator Of Dark Ages Polarimetry Pathfinder Planned To Orbit Lunar Far Side By 2023; Colorado-Built Experiments For NASA CLPS Include Lunar Compact Infrared Imaging System To Explore Moon’s Composition And Lunar Magnetotelluric Sounder, Which Will Study Moon’s Crust

Credits: Orbit Beyond, University of Colorado Boulder

Tuesday / 11 June 2019

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Orbit Beyond Is 1st Projected USA Lunar Lander In 48 Years 

Orbit Beyond Of Edison, New Jersey, Selected By NASA As One Of Three Companies To Land Scientific Payloads On Moon In About 2 Years; Z-01 Lander Has Earliest Planned Date Of September 2020 With Up To 4 NASA Payloads; International Partnership With Team Indus Allows Orbit Beyond Lander To Be Engineered In India; Other Partners Include Honeybee Robotics Advanced Space, Ceres Robotics And Apollo Fusion; Chief Science Officer Jon Morse, Former NASA Director Of Astrophysics, Points To Annegrit Crater Near Mare Imbrium And Apollo 15 Landing Site

Credits: Orbit Beyond, NASA

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 31 May – 3 June 2019

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India Chandrayaan-2 Aims for Moon South Pole with 14 Science Payloads: 8 Orbiter, 4 Lander, 2 Rover

India Chandrayaan-2, Named For Moon Deity Chandra, Aims For First Landing In Lunar South Polar Region; Indian Space Research Organization Schedules Launch For 9-16 July And Landing ~6 Sep; ISRO Chairman K. Sivan States, “When Nobody Has Gone Near That Area, Some New Science Might Be There” About South Pole; Orbiter, ‘Vikram’ Lander And ‘Pragyan’ Rover Will Carry 14 Payloads Including Spectrometers, Solar X-ray Monitor, Radar, Seismometer And NASA Laser Retroreflector

Credits: ISRO

Tuesday / 21 May 2019

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PRC Space Experts Note USA Artemis News 

Zhongguo China National Space Agency Experts Respond To USA Artemis Program; Chang’e-6 And Chang’e-7 Planned To Land At South Pole; Senior Scientist Ye Peijian (R) Says “Children Will Blame Us” If We Can Go To The Moon But Fail To Act; Pang Zhihao States That Lunar Base Can Be Used For Science Including Astronomy; Wu Weiren (L) Chief Architect Of Lunar Exploration Project, States That Chinese Footprints Will Be On Moon In About 10 Years

Credits: Xinhua News, CNSA