Category Archives: South Pole Moon

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 25-28 August 2023

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India Exploring Area Near Moon South Pole with Chandrayaan-3

ISRO now conducting the farthest expedition into the lunar south ever, with landing site 69.374454°S, 32.318695°E ~625km from the southernmost point on the Moon (90°S on Shackleton crater rim); Lander Module Vikram and Pragyan rover operating nominally with ILSA, RAMBHA and ChaSTE instruments activated and ready to take seismic, ionic and thermal readings; APXS and LIBS will perform X-ray and laser spectroscopy to determine chemical, mineralogical and elemental composition of regolith from Pragyan, now rolled out and >8 meters from LM

Tuesday / 15 Aug 2023

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India and Russia Reaching Final Stretch Before Landings in South Polar Region

ISRO Chandrayaan-3 now in 150 x 177 km orbit around Moon with next orbital reduction / circularization maneuver planned to retrofire on 16 Aug at ~08:30 IST ahead of expected 23 Aug 12:17 UTC landing at South Polar Region (69.368°S, 32.348°E) roughly 120 km west of Roscosmos Luna-25 prime landing site at 69.545°S, 43.544°E; Luna-25 operating nominally with stable comms and power following 13 Aug instrument / telemetry check and Earth / Moon imaging, activation of ADRON-LR cosmic radiation detector and final orbit correction maneuver 14 Aug; LOI to occur 16 Aug, while landing may happen on 21 Aug

Tuesday / 1 Aug 2023

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Chandrayaan-3 on Course for Lunar Orbit Insertion Following Successful Trans Lunar Injection

ISRO lunar lander Chandrayaan-3 on 5-day cruise to lunar orbit, expected to arrive 5 Aug after set on its way with TLI maneuver firing at 1 Aug perigee (00:15 IST) commanded from ISRO ISTRAC facility in Bengaluru; India is set to become 4th nation to soft-land on Moon, and may become 1st to explore Moon South Pole region; Meanwhile origin of wreckage found near Jurien Bay, Western Australia affirmed by Australian Space Agency to be PSLV stage 3; ASA to store material for ISRO retrieval as obligations under the United Nations space treaties considered

Credits: ISRO

Tuesday / 18 July 2023

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Chandrayaan-3 Operating Nominally as its Orbit is Raised in Preparation for Trans-Lunar Injection

ISRO is working to conduct next raising maneuver of Chandrayaan-3, which is currently maintaining 41,603 km x 226 km orbit; Apogee firing to occur 17 July between 14:00-15:00 IST will be 3rd of 5 such maneuvers prior to TLI, which is set for 31 July, followed by ~5.5-day transfer and Lunar Orbit Insertion around 5 Aug; Propulsion Module to maintain 100 x 100 km circular orbit while Vikram lander containing Pragyan rover to descend to MSP area surface from 100 x 30km lunar orbit

Credits: ISRO

USA July 4th Holiday Edition
Mon-Wed / 3-5 July 2023

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USA@250: Ready for Multi World Civilization?

Artemis 3 touchdown NLT 4 July 2026 brings challenges – Moonsuit, lander, fuel depot, funding; and consequences – first women, first person of color to advance gender, racial equality – in situ on the surface of Moon / in space and on Earth; International, economic egalitarian considerations likely to prompt new social movements, reevaluation of existing norms as sustainable lunar communities are established; Principles of autonomy and self-determination articulated 4 July 1776 in Declaration of Independence may inform both Artemis and International Lunar Research Station constituents, in peace for all

Credits: National Archives, SpaceX

Thursday / 8 June 2023

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Planetary Scientist to Delve into Expected Artemis 3 Moon South Pole Conditions

Lunar and Planetary Institute (LPI) Principal Scientist David Kring presenting What Might Artemis Astronauts Encounter at the Lunar South Pole?, an installment of LPI Cosmic Explorations Speaker Series, in hybrid online / in-person format today from Houston TX at 19:30 CDT; Low sun angle and jagged landscape may present unique challenges (visibility, traverse) and opportunities (PSRs, possibility of collecting 4.3 billion+ year old pre-Nectarian material) for 2-member Artemis 3 crew, now likely launching to MSP NET 2026 per NASA Exploration Systems Administrator Jim Free; Event will be live-streamed

Credits: LPI, NASA, KARI

Tuesday / 28 Feb 2023

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Lunar Crew Module / Lander Mockups on Display as CMSA to Announce Taikonauts for Shenzhou-16 & 17

30 years of steady progress toward and realization of human exploration in space (27 missions / 10 crewed) being celebrated at 3-month exhibit at National Museum of China in Beijing featuring models of China Manned Space Agency next-generation crewed spacecraft and lunar surface lander, which are to be launched via 25,906 kN-thrust Long March 10 (formerly LM-5DY) rocket in 2020s; 6 crewmembers for next 2 missions to Tiangong Space Station to be revealed as international astronaut exchanges under consideration

Pictured: (T-B) CMSA Director Hao Chun, Taikonaut Yang Liwei, CMSA Deputy Chief Designer Chen Shanguang; Credits: CMSA, CGTN screengrab, Wikipedia

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 20-23 Jan 2023

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2 Newly Arrived Moon Orbiters May Be Joined by at Least Half-Dozen Landers in Coming Months

As NASA / Advanced Space Capstone continues pathfinder mission of NRHO (so far finding Δv orbital maintenance requirements to be substantially less than expected) and KPLO Danuri prepares to begin science operations in Feb, ispace Hakuto-R lander should start return towards cislunar space after having reached furthest point in nearly 5-month fuel-efficient trajectory (1,400,000 km); Astrobotic PM-1 (with Project Kuiper and Celestis) and Intuitive Machines IM-1 (with DOGE-1) to follow NET Q1 2023, JAXA SLIM (with XRISM) NET April, ISRO Chandrayaan-3 NET June, Roscosmos Luna-25 NET July

Credits: JAXA, ISRO, Roscosmos

 

Friday / 20 Jan 2023

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Happy 93rd Birthday to Buzz Aldrin as Artemis Generation on Cusp of Resuming Human Activity on Moon 

In a recent op-ed tribute to Apollo 7 Astronaut Walt Cunningham, second person to reach lunar surface Buzz Aldrin reiterates “Human exploration is essential. We must return to the Moon, and then go farther”; The first woman will walk on Moon with Artemis 3 (landing NLT 4 July 2026), a historic event which may be advanced at upcoming State of the Union address 7 Feb; Where crew will land within South Pole area TBD, sites under consideration will be discussed at NASA-sponsored Lunar Science Surface Workshop 4-5 April

Credits: NASA, Twitter / @TheRealBuzz

Thanksgiving Holiday Edition
Wed-Mon / 23-28 Nov 2022

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8 International Lunar Missions May Follow Artemis 1, Capstone, Danuri in Remainder of 2022 and 2023

As Artemis Orion spacecraft occupies cislunar distant retrograde orbit (130 x 64,000 km) with splashdown expected 11 Dec, NASA Capstone tests cislunar near rectilinear halo orbit (1,600 x 70,000 km) and KARI Danuri on course to reach 100km lunar orbit 16 Dec, numerous global efforts work to follow with ispace M1 launching NET 29 Nov 2022; Throughout 2023: Astrobotic Peregrine Mission One NET Q1, Intuitive Machines IM-1 NET March, JAXA SLIM NET April, ISRO Chandrayaan-3 NET June, Roscosmos Luna-25 NET July; IM-2 and Turkish Space Agency AYAP-1 aim for late 2023

Credits: NASA, KARI, Astrobotic, IM, JAXA, ISRO, TSA