Category Archives: NASA

Friday / 17 June 2016

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13th International Planetary Probe Workshop Highlighting Innovative Ideas For Lunar Exploration

LED-6-16-16

The Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, Goddard Space Flight Center and NASA Meeting In Laurel, Maryland June 13-17 Features Talks By Alan Stern PI Of New Horizons & Ellen Stofan NASA Chief Scientist; Includes Presentations By Robert Buchwald (TR) Of Airbus On ‘Prospecting And Returning Lunar Surface Samples With Volatiles’ And By Balaji Soundararajan, Masters Student (Space Engineering) at Technical University Berlin On ‘Autonomous UAV for Lunar Inspection’ & ‘Lunar Ballistic Robot Exploration’

Credit: JHU/APL, GSFC, NASA,R. Buchwald, B. Soundararajan,

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 10-13 June 2016

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LRO Continues Intense Reconnaissance Of Moon

LED-6-10-16

Flagship NASA Lunar Mission Will Enter Its 8th Year In Lunar Orbit 23 June As It Continues Highly Elliptical Polar Trajectory Observing Moon With Variety Of Onboard Instruments; SwRI Team Including Senior Research Scientist Kathleen Mandt Published Finding In Icarus Journal Identifying Geologically Young Craters Via Lyman-Alpha Mapping Project (LAMP) Instrument & Mini-RF Radar Data; One Crater Estimated At Just 16 Million Years Old, Others Between 75-420 Million Years

Credit: NASA, SwRI

Thursday / 2 June 2016

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3 International Lunar CubeSats To Join Orion/SLS On Cislunar Journey

LED-6-1-16

Exploration Mission 1 (EM-1) First Test Flight Of New Space Launch System With Uncrewed Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle On 21-Day Circumlunar Trajectory NLT Nov 2018; Will Also Carry And Deploy 10 Other CubeSat Missions; Latest Announcement Introduces JAXA EQUULEUS (EQUilibriUm Lunar-Earth point 6U Spacecraft) And OMOTENASHI (Outstanding MOon exploration TEchnologies demonstrated by NAno Semi-Hard Impactor), As Well As ASI / Agrotec ArgoMoon

Credit: NASA, JAXA, AIS / Argotec

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 27-30 May 2016

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6 Current Moon Craft Operated Solely By China And NASA

China NASA 2016 Moon Craft

2017 Brings Hope For 1st Commercial Moon Missions, India Chandrayaan-2 & China Chang’e-5 Sample Return, While NASA LRO Continues Collecting Data On Lunar Poles, New Surface Features – Will Enter 8th Year At Moon 23 June, Data Release #26 Upcoming; NASA ARTEMIS 1 & 2 Studying Moon Plasma Wake & Solar Wind Interactions, To Enter 6th Year At Moon In July; China Chang’e-3 Lander & Yutu Rover At Guang Han Gong, 44.12°N 19.51°W To Celebrate Start Of 4th Year On Surface 14 Dec; Chang’e-5T1 Service Module Almost 17 Months In Orbit, Continues Observations / Tests For Future Landing Missions

Credit: NASA, GSFC, CNSA, CSA, NAOC, CCTV

Wednesday / 25 May 2016

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Moon In Focus As Lawmakers Push NASA Toward Lunar Landings, Reject Asteroid Redirect Mission

LED-5-24-16

Scientists, Engineers And Administrators At NASA Are Preparing For Tidal Shift As USA House Of Representatives Calls For Return To Moon To Refine Capabilities Including Landing, Ascent, Habitation, And Prospecting; Budget Committee Draft Bill Cites Moon Development As Best Strategy For Sustainable Future Mars Exploration; ‘The House’ Is A Legislative Body Made Up Of 434 Voting Members Elected To Represent Each State Proportionally To Its Population

Credit: House.gov, NASA

Wednesday / 18 May 2016

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Dutch Study Tests Vegetable Growth With Moon, Mars Soil Simulants

LED-5-17-16

Lunar Soil Simulant Being Tested As Grow Medium For Tomatoes, Peas, Rye, Radishes, Cress, Arugula By Agricultural Researchers At Wageningen University, Netherlands; Ecologist Dr. Wieger Wamelink Notes 1st Attempt Most Plants Died In Moon Dirt Due To Low Water Absorption, Adding Fresh Cut Grass Allowed Plants To Thrive; Risk Of Heavy Metal Contamination Could Be Mitigated By Growing Violets, Other Species That Take In Toxins; Soil Analogs Sourced From Arizona Desert (Moon) And Hawaii Volcano (Mars) Via NASA At Cost Of US$3,080 Per 100kg

Credit: Wageningen UR, NASA

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 13-16 May 2016

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LRO Greatly Advancing Lunar Knowledge, Up For 2 Year Extension In September

LED-5-13-16

In Moon Orbit Longer Than Any Other Spacecraft LRO Continues Intensive Study From Highly Elliptical Path Flying As Low As 20km Over South Pole Every 117.2 Minutes; Noah Petro (Lunar Geologist) Studying Evolution Of Moon Today And Over Last Billion Years And John Keller (LRO Project Scientist) Examining Polar-Crater Water-Ice Deposits, Both At NASA GSFC, Are Among Thousands Of Scientists Worldwide Who Pour Over Data Releases From 7 Onboard Instruments; Project Team Has Requested Extension From NASA

Credit: GSFC, NASA

Wednesday / 11 May 2016

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Europe Focuses On Lunar Exploration And Moon Village

4th European Lunar Symposium 18-19 May At The Dutch Royal Academy Of Arts And Sciences, Amsterdam (TR), The Netherlands Is Co-Organized By NASA SSERVI; Inaugural Lecture On LRO ‘Seven Years Exploring The Moon’; A “Moon Village” Workshop Occurs At Nearby ESTEC (BL) 19-20 May To Expand, Enhance And Refine This Primary Initiative Of ESA Director General Jan Woerner Who Is Determined To Help Establish A Permanent International Outpost At Moon As Next Major Step For Global Space Endeavor Beyond ISS

Credit: SSERVI, NASA, ESA, ESTEC

Friday / 6 May 2016

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Two Conferences Supporting Moon, Mars, & Asteroids Investigate Opportunities

Two ConferencesStimulating Renewed Support In Moon / Space Activities Two Conferences Moving Into Year 8 Scheduled To Address: Lunar Exploration & Enterprise, Solar System, Near Earth Asteroids; 7-9 June Golden Colorado School Of Mines To Host  SRR, PTMSS & LPI With PISCES Rob Kelso Discussing ISRU Construction – Lunar Launch/Landing Pad; Ames Research Center Holding Annual Lunar & Small Bodies Graduate Conference (LunGradCon 2016) In Mountain View California 19 July; NASA SSERVI Topics To Include Missions & Human Exploration

Credit: SRR, PTMSS, LPI, NASA, SSERVI, PISCES

Friday / 22 April 2016

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LRO Providing Critical Information & Inspiration For New Wave Of Lunar Progress

LED-4-21-16

Flying 20 Km Over South Pole, 165k Km Over North Pole In Elliptical Orbit; LRO Providing Highest Resolution Data Ever, At A Rate Of ~440 Gigabits Image Data Per Day; Thomas R. Watters, LRO Co-Investigator And Senior Scientist At Smithsonian NASM, Notes The Narrow Angle Camera Instrument Alone Has Returned Well Over 1 Million Images, “More Digital Data Than Every Other Planetary Mission”; Resurgence Of Lunar Interest For National Space Agencies, Commercial Enterprises, Individuals Across The Globe

Credit: NASA.