Category Archives: SpaceX

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 10-13 January 2025

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Historic First: Two International Commercial Lunar Landers on Single Rocket Set for Jan 15 Launch

Firefly Aerospace first lunar lander ‘Blue Ghost’ carries ~150 kg of 10 NASA payloads within total weight ~490 kg, is go for launch on SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket 15 January, heads to land at Mare Crisium (18.56°N, 61.81°E) NET 1 March (~45 days later) with LEXI refurbished X-ray instrument to read Earth magnetosphere / auroras, with Honeybee Robotics (Blue Origin) PlanetVac to stir regolith / photograph dust, and with Redwire (NYSE: RDW) imaging technology to assist landing; ispace Japan second mission with ~340 kg lander Hakuto-R M2 ‘Resilience’, carrying ~5-kg RESILIENCE micro-rover, will travel 4-5 months before planned touchdown at Mare Frigoris (60.5°N, 4.6°W)

Credits: Firefly, ispace, SpaceX

Tuesday / 7 January 2025

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Questions Arise for USA Admin 2025+ Moon-Mars Priorities

Regardless of SpaceX contracts for the program, CEO Musk says Artemis maximizes jobs not results, wants to build Moon Base Alpha but not for refueling on the way to Mars; Ars Technica’s Eric Berger notes USA competes with China for a Moon presence, reports a new administration committee sees humans there by 2028 via a more-efficient Artemis program; Jared Isaacman, nominated for NASA Administrator, wrote “Americans will walk on the Moon and… make life better here on Earth”; Mark Whittington recommends Artemis mission goals: “[A]dvance the frontiers of science, create technology that will be useful in space and on Earth … create new industries”

Credits: SpaceX: Musk – Royal Society, Moon Base Alpha concepts, Monica + Jared Isaacman

Tuesday / 3 December 2024

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Two Lunar Landers at Kennedy Space Center Awaiting Launch, Third Will Soon Arrive

JAXA / ispace lunar lander Mission 2 Resilience is now at KSC preparing to carry Tenacious micro rover / commercial payloads including a model house to Mare Figoris, 60.5° N, 4.6° W, is called “culmination of the Hakuto-R program; Firefly Aerospace Blue Ghost lander awaits launch from LC39A during 6-day window mid-January, carries 10 payloads including for NASA CLPS to Mare Crisium after 45-day journey with orbits of Earth and Moon; Intuitive Machines Nova-C lander Athena for IM-2 mission expected to arrive soon at KSC, will carry NASA CLPS payloads to Mouton Plateau (Leibnitz); all will launch NET January via SpaceX Falcon 9

Credits: JAXA / ispace, Firefly Aerospace, Intuitive Machines

Friday / 15 November 2024

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Firefly Aerospace Aims for Moon Far Side

Firefly Aerospace, Texas, latest fundraising of US$175M, much from RPM Ventures, raises valuation to US$2B; majority owner is AE Industrial Partners; will launch via SpaceX Falcon 9 for first of 2 commercial Moon landings under NASA CLPS awards, delivering 10 instruments / experiments including LuSEE-Night, also Australian seismic SPIDER; after transport on 2,700 kg-payload-capacity Firefly Elytra Dark Transfer Vehicle in lunar orbit, lander Blue Ghost carries 150 kg to lunar surface, provides data / power / thermal resources for operations from Moon far side for 10+ days

Credits: Firefly Aerospace, Fleet Space, SpaceX, Marilyn Sargent/Berkeley Lab

Tuesday / 30 April 2024

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SpaceX Presents Plan to Use Starship as Lunar Base Construction Element

14 companies selected to develop conceptual framework for Moon commercialization under <US$1M DARPA 10-Year Lunar Architecture Capability Study (LunA-10) contracts deliver proposal briefs at Lunar Surface Innovation Consortium Spring meeting at JHU/APL, with final reports expected in June; SpaceX study envisions lunar base infrastructure established with 3 Starship landings: Utility Starship as power / communications hub, Rolling Stock Starship for rovers and construction machines, Habitation Starship for crew living quarters; Company projects Starship payload cost to lunar surface to drop from <$10,000/kg to ~$1,000/kg after 2030

 
Credits: SpaceX, NASA

Friday / 19 April 2024

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Firefly Aerospace Set to Announce Blue Ghost Mission 1 Q3/Q4 Launch Window to Moon

Austin TX-based Firefly building on 2-m tall, 3.5-m diameter Blue Ghost lunar lander at newly-expanded 19,231 m2 work space under CLPS US$93.3M task order 19D; Blue Ghost M1 could be 4th Moon surface mission to ride on SpaceX Falcon 9 (Beresheet, Hakuto-R, IM-1) with 30-day launch window TBA in May; The 150-kg capacity lander is to carry 10 NASA payloads with 94-kg mass including regolith-repelling Electrodynamic Dust Shield (KSC), solar wind-Earth magnetic field investigation Lunar Environment Heliospheric X-ray Imager (Boston University), and Lunar GNSS Receiver Experiment (MSFC), first attempt to utilize GPS on Moon

Pictured (T-B) Firefly CEO Bill Weber, Advisory Board Member Jim Bridenstine, CFO Darren Ma
Credits: Firefly

Friday / 1 March 2024

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SpaceX and NASA Preparing Starship for In-Space Docking Ahead of Possible Mid-March IFT-3

10-day dynamic testing of 200+ scenarios conducted at NASA JSC will assist mission planners in validating computer modelling of spacecraft docking, crucial to operations for Artemis 3 human landing and subsequent missions slated to transfer crew and supplies between Starship HLS, Orion capsule and Lunar Gateway under US$4.04B contracts; SpaceX is reportedly working towards 3rd attempt at orbital launch NET mid-March from Starbase TX to 100-km NE of Kaua’i HI, pending 17 corrective actions required by FAA following Orbital Flight Test-2 mishap investigation, conditions IFT-3 launch license

Credits: NASA, SpaceX

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 27-30 Oct 2023

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NASA Monitoring SpaceX and Blue Origin Progress on Human Landing Systems for Artemis 3-5

HLS Program Manager Lisa Watson-Morgan tells Spaceflight Now NASA is concerned about SpaceX schedule, expects 15-17 launches of Starship Moon lander variant prior to return of humans to the lunar surface during Artemis 3 NET Dec 2025 & Artemis 4 NET Sep 2028; Starship 26 currently fully stacked with Super Heavy booster 9 at Starbase TX awaiting resolution of <135-day U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service consultation with FAA for orbital test launch clearance; Blue Moon Mark 2 HLS contracted for Artemis 5 being developed by Blue Moon, Lockheed, et al with cargo version demonstration model at Huntsville facility toured by NASA officials during recent Von Braun Symposium

Credits: Blue Origin, NASA, SpaceX

Friday / 27 Oct 2023

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Astrobotic and Intuitive Machines on Dual Track to Return USA to Moon

Working under first 2 CLPS contracts awarded in 31 May 2019, Astrobotic of Pittsburgh PA and Intuitive Machines of Houston TX now in countdown mode to Moon launch; Astrobotic awaiting ULA readiness to ship Peregrine lander to KSC as Vulcan Centaur being prepped for NET 24 Dec launch on inaugural Certification-1; Intuitive Machines reportedly also aiming for similar time frame launch of Nova-C lander; Peregrine to take 30-day route to mid-latitude Gruithuisen Domes at ~36°N, whereas Nova-C taking more direct 5-7 day transfer via SpaceX F9 to Malapert A near MSP at ~80°S

Credits: ULA, SpaceX, Astrobotic, IM

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 8-11 Sep 2023

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USA Artemis Moonships SLS and Starship Development Advancing Ahead of Human Moon Missions

Preparations for Artemis 2 (SLS rocket / Orion crew capsule) ongoing at KSC Launch Complex 39B – Mobile Launcher-1 being augmented with structural reinforcements while Emergency Crew Escape System and 41,730-kg Crew Access Arm being installed for first crewed lunar flyby in over 50 years NET Nov 2025; NASA considering future shift of SLS ownership and operation to private contractor in response to unsustainable costs per US GAO; SpaceX to make 63 corrective actions prior to FAA launch clearance for Starship, now fully stacked at Starbase TX, including changes to launch pad, propellant leak remediation, and Autonomous Flight Safety System testing

Credits: SpaceX, NASA