Category Archives: NASA

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 28 Feb – 2 Mar 2020

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Commercial Lunar Services Providers Enlisted For New Polar Rover

Commercial Lunar Payload Services 19C Proposals For Smaller Lander Mission Due First Week Of March; CLPS Providers Astrobotic And Intuitive Machines Building Landers For July 2021; NASA Seeking Bids From 14 CLPS Providers To Land New Rover At Moon Pole 2023; 350-Kg Volatiles Investigation Polar Exploration Rover Will Roam Several Kilometers For Up To 100 Days, Seek Water Ice With 4 Instruments Including One-Meter TRIDENT Drill; 19D Solicitation Expected To Follow, For Larger Cargo Landers Potentially To Moon Equator

Credits: NASA, Ceres Robotics

Friday / 28 February 2020

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CubeSats To Orbit Moon In 2021 To Prepare For Artemis 

NASA Small Spacecraft Technology Program Funds CubeSats For Moon; Lunar Flashlight Will Fly As Secondary Payload On Artemis-1; With Principal Investigator Barbara Cohen, Flashlight Will Examine Permanently Shadowed Regions Near South Pole For Water Ice Deposits; Rocket Lab Has Contract To Launch Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations And Navigation Experiment In 2021; 25-Kg CAPSTONE, Built By Tyvak Nano-Satellite Systems, Will Reach Near Rectilinear Halo Orbit As Precursor To Lunar Gateway

Credits: NASA, Rocket Lab

Friday / 21 February 2020

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Artemis Moon Enterprises Underway At Langley Research Center To Support 2024 Human Landings 

NASA Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, Continues Lunar Programs Following Visit By VP Pence Reaffirming Commitment To Artemis; Navigation Doppler LIDAR Being Developed At Langley Will Aid In Determining Exact Spacecraft Position During Landing; Langley Researches On-Orbit Servicing, Assembly And Manufacturing For Lunar Orbit Applications; Clayton Turner Is New Center Director And Jill Marlowe Is New Associate Center Director For Technical At Langley

Credits: NASA, Blue Origin

Tuesday / 18 February 2020

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  Permanently Shadowed South Polar Region Operations To Be Studied By Universities Under BIG Idea NASA Awards

NASA 2020 Breakthrough, Innovative And Game-Changing (BIG) Idea Challenge To Award Nearly USD$1M To Eight University Teams For Demonstrating Ways To Work In Moon’s Darkest Regions; MIT AeroAstro Team, Supervised By Astronaut Jeffrey Hoffman, Will Build 100-Kg Multifunctional Expandable Lunar Lite Tall Tower (MELLTT) To Extend 100 Feet From Lander; Northeastern University Will Build SCOUT Rover And DOGHOUSE Support Module; Concepts Will Be Designed To Operate In Permanently Shadowed Regions Near Lunar South Pole

Credits: NASA, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 14-17 Feb 2020

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New Race To Moon South Pole – Malapert Mountain

Multiple Nations And Commercial Enterprises Aiming For Lunar South Polar Region; Following CNSA Chang’e-5 Sample Return In 2020, Chang’e-6 And Chang’e-7 Will Explore South Pole; ISRO Chandrayaan-3, -4 and -5 Will Continue Polar Landing Goal Of Chandrayaan-2; SpaceX Promises Lunar Landings By 2022; NASA Commercial Lunar Payload Services May Carry Payloads Such As The International Lunar Observatory ILO-1 For Galaxy Imaging And Broadcasting From Malapert Mountain, One Of The Most Important And Valuable Sites In Solar System

Credits: NASA, CNSA, ISRO, SpaceX, ILOA

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 7-10 Feb 2020

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Aldrin Urges Timely Return To Moon While State Of Union Reaffirms Commitment To Artemis

Moonwalker Buzz Aldrin Urges America To “Dare Greatly” In Returning To Moon As Step Toward Mars, Emphasizes That “Time Does Matter” In Space; Following State Of Union Call To Fully Fund Artemis Program “To Ensure That The Next Man And First Woman On The Moon Will Be American” White House Will Request NASA Budget Boost, Perhaps US$3B; Administrator Bridenstine Will Focus On Moon To Mars Plans Monday 10 February At State Of NASA Events

Credits: NASA

Weekend Edition
Fri – Mon / 31 Jan – 3 Feb 2020

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Multipartisan Support Needed To Keep Artemis 2024 Lunar Landing Date

US House Subcommittee On Space And Aeronautics, Chaired By Kendra Horn, Proposes Bill H.R. 5666 Calling For Lunar Landing By 2028 Instead Of 2024; Bill Directs Creation Of Moon-Mars Program Office To Plan For Mars Landing In 2033; Space Community Expresses Alarm That Mars ‘Fantasy’ Could Indefinitely Delay Moon And Cislunar Development; Draft Bill Must Pass Full House Of Representatives And Negotiations With Senate, Which Has Already Approved Of Artemis First Women On the Moon

Credits: NASA, Lockheed Martin

Friday / 24 January 2020

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Commercial Lunar Services Providers To Carry Payloads Aiding Astronomy And Lunar Science

NASA Finalizes 16 Experiments And Technology Demonstrations To Fly With Commercial Lunar Services Providers; Astrobotic Peregrine Lander (L) Will Carry 11 Payloads Using ULA Vulcan Launcher Including PROSPECT Ion-Trap Mass Spectrometer (C); Intuitive Machines Will Launch Nova-C Lander (R) With 5 Payloads On SpaceX Falcon 9; Radio Observations Lunar Surface (ROLSES) Low-Frequency Experiment On Nova-C Will Test Feasibility Of Large Radio Telescopes On Lunar Surface; Both Landers Will Carry Laser Retro-Reflector Arrays To Aid Navigation

Credits: NASA

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 10-13 Jan 2020

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International Moon Landings 2020-2021 Begin Lunar Decade

Multiple Nations And Commercial Enterprises Prepare For Landings In First Years Of Lunar Decade; India Proceeding At Full Speed With Chandrayaan-3 (BR) For November 2020; China (Zhongguo) Plans Chang’e-5 (TR) NLT Dec 2020; NASA Commercial Lunar Services Providers Astrobotic And Intuitive Machines (L) Both Plan Landings NET July 2021; Chang’e-6 And Chang’e-7 Planned For Near Future; Chandrayaan-4 May Follow In Cooperation With JAXA, And Possibly Chandrayaan-5; SpaceX And Blue Origin (C) Also Plan To Land Payloads In Early 2020s

Credits: NASA, Blue Origin, CNSA, ISRO

New Year 2020 Edition
Fri-Tues / 20 Dec 2019 – 7 Jan 2020

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Artemis Moon Generation:
Multi-Partisan, International, Entrepreneurial

NASA Gains Funding In Bipartisan Budget For Space Launch System, Exploration Upper Stage, And Artemis Lunar Lander For First Women On The Moon In 2024; Private Companies Are Participating In Commercial Crew, Cargo, And Lunar Landers; Canada Supplying Robotic Arm For Lunar Orbit; JAXA Contributing Habitation Modules And Lunar Rover; ESA Partners Agree To Greatly Increased Budget And Providing Orion Service Modules For Artemis 1-4; Cooperation Possible From India, Russia, Crescent Moon Countries And Zhongguo (China)

Credits: NASA, ESA, CSA / CAS