Category Archives: SpaceX

Tuesday / 16 May 2023

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Closer NASA / SpaceX Collaboration May Mitigate Environmental Controversy Around Starship Testing

Ongoing litigation pursued by Surfrider Foundation, American Bird Conservancy & others over amended 2015 environmental impact assessment under which FAA allows SpaceX to operate 20-acre Starbase facility near Boca Chica TX (25.6° N, 97.1° W) raising concerns over possible impact to NET Dec 2025 Artemis 3 human Moon landings; Environmental policy expert Eric Roesch argues Starbase is fundamentally incompatible with launch testing due to nature reserve proximity, urges NASA involvement; Kathy Lueders to join SpaceX, overseeing Starship safety

Credits: NASA, SpaceX

Tuesday / 18 April 2023

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Starship Launch Slated for This Week, a Variant is to Carry First Human Moon Missions Artemis 3 / 4 to Surface

Starship in HLS form – minus aerodynamic fins / heat shielding, plus mid-body RCS thrusters – is to land uncrewed demo prior to carrying 2 Artemis astronauts from lunar orbit (transferred from Orion, launched by SLS) to surface near MSP under Option A US$2.89B contract NET Dec 2025 and Artemis 4 NET Sept 2028 under $1.15B Option B; Lunar missions to utilize ‘tanker’ and ‘depot’ scheme in which HLS will be refueled in NRHO; Artemis 5 onward to have TBD alternative lander under NextSTEP Appendix P

Pictured: SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, Starship Engineering Director Shana Diez, Starship Engineering VP Joe Petrzelka in Starship Mission Control; Credits: SpaceX, Twitter / @WalterIsaacson

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

 

Tuesday / 6 Dec 2022

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ispace HAKUTO-R Mission 1 Reportedly Launching on Falcon 9 Wednesday Morning from CCSFS

A leading contender in an increasingly crowded race to the first commercial Moon landing, ispace of Tokyo, hopes to launch Mission 1, first in HAKUTO-R (White Rabbit) series of lunar missions, on 7 Dec at 3:04 EST from SLC-40 via SpaceX F9, accompanied by JPL Lunar Flashlight CubeSat; The 340-kg dry / 1,000-kg wet M1 lander has payload capacity of 30 kg, to carry an array of international payloads including rovers from UAE and Japan; While launch was delayed by SpaceX for launch vehicle inspection, ispace plans “no major operational changes”, nominal landing in late April 2023

 Pictured: ispace CEO Takeshi Hakamada, CTO Ryo Ujiie, CFO Jumpei Nozaki, CRO Atsushi Saiki; Credits: ispace, SpaceX

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 2-5 Dec 2022

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Wave of Independent Moon Missions to Trail Artemis 1, Followed by National Efforts, Then Another Raft of Indies

As NASA / ESA Orion Moonship returns to Earth, Advanced Space-controlled, Tyvak-built, NASA-funded Capstone remains in NRHO and Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter Danuri on course to reach Moon orbit 16 Dec, planned commercial missions include ispace M1 awaiting SpaceX launch at KSC pending F9 review; Intuitive Machines IM-1 March 2023; Astrobotic PM1 Q1 2023; Followed by national missions from JAXA (SLIM, April 2023), ISRO (Chandrayaan-3, June 2023), Roscosmos (Luna-25, July 2023); Independents IM-2 (late 2023), SpaceX landing demo mission (2024), IM-3 (Q2 2024), Astrobotic GM1 (Nov 2024)

 Credits: NASA, ISRO, KARI, IM, SpaceX, Astrobotic,

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 14-17 Oct 2022

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2023 Lunar Missions on the Horizon as Artemis 1 Flyby and M1 Lander Preparing for Launches

NASA and ispace poised for 2022 Moon flyby / robotic landing, while several missions now targeting 2023; Astrobotic, Intuitive Machines, ISRO, JAXA to launch Peregrine, Nova-C and Chandrayaan-3, SLIM landers NET Q1; Roscosmos plans Luna-25 launch via Soyuz-2.1b NET Q3; Also within 2023 Intuitive Machines striving to launch IM-2 mission including first satellite of lunar data relay ‘Khonstellation’, μNova hopper, SHERPA-ES tug, Orbit Fab Tanker-002 in-space fuel depot; Rocket Factory Augsburg to begin deployment of Harmony cislunar constellation; SpaceX to take Yusaku Maezawa and 8 selected crew, 1-2 professional astronauts on dearMoon lunar flyby with Starship

Credits: ISRO, SpaceX, RFA, dearMoon

Friday / 14 Oct 2022

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ispace Counting Down to Mission 1 Launch, Hoping to Achieve First Successful Commercial Lunar Lading

M1 lander with integrated payloads from NGK (solid-state battery), Canadensys (360° cameras), UAE Rashid rover, JAXA transformable lunar robot to depart testing site IABG Space Centre in Ottobrunn, Germany for KSC LC-39, launching as secondary rideshare on SpaceX F9 rocket NET 9-15 November window; 3-month low-energy lunar transfer, tracked by ESA ESTRACK ground stations in Guiana, Australia, Spain, Argentina and UK, to be followed by 12-day lunar mission; 200+ employee ispace has US$237M+ funding, planning M2 NET 2023, M3 with Draper under $73M CLPS award NET 2025

Credits: ispace, MBRSC

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 30 Sep – 3 Oct 2022

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Autumn Moon Missions Striving Toward Launch While 2023 Queue Grows

NASA Artemis 1 cryogenic hydrogen fueling / tanking systems undergoing refurbishment, Flight Termination batteries being swapped in VAB, November launch to lunar DRO probable; ispace likely to lead commercial Moon lander efforts with launch window open Nov 11-15; Astrobotic holding to Q4 timeframe pending Blue Origin BE-4 certification / integration with ULA Vulcan Centaur; Intuitive Machines aiming for Q1 2023 as is ISRO Chandrayaan-3, JAXA SLIM; Roscosmos Luna 25 may launch July 2023; IM-2 / Lunar Trailblazer rideshare NET 2023

Credits: NASA, ispace, Astrobotic, IM, ISRO, JAXA, Roscosmos

Friday / 30 Sep 2022

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Japan Spacecraft at Forefront of Lunar Return with ispace Lander, Cubesat Rideshares on Artemis 1

ispace HAKUTO-R mission reportedly targeting 9-15 November launch to Lacus Somniorum (Lake of Dreams) via SpaceX Falcon 9; ispace lander to deliver Rashid rover and collect regolith for sale to NASA under precedent-setting US$5,000 contract in accordance with Outer Space Treaty 1967; JAXA 6U CubeSats OMOTENASHI (Hospitality) and EQUULEUS to deploy from Artemis 1 Orion Stage Adapter, perform critical trajectory maneuvers to pathfind Earth-Moon L2 libration orbit and achieve semi-hard (~30 m/s) landing; OMOTENASHI retrorocket / airbag surface delivery system may serve as low-cost model for future Moon surface payloads

Pictured: (L-R) ispace CFO Jumpei Nozaki, ispace CEO Takeshi Hakamada, NASA Deputy Associate Administrator for Business Operations Casey Swails, ispace EU Director Julien-Alexandre Lamamy; Credits: NASA, JAXA, ispace

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 23-26 Sep 2022

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International Assortment of Robotic Landers Preparing for Launch to Lunar Surface

ispace Hakuto-R reportedly set to launch on SpaceX F9 during 9–15 Nov window, carrying UAE Rashid 1 rover to Moon on 3-month low-energy trajectory; Astrobotic holding to Q4 Peregrine launch amid USSF statement that BE-4 successfully demonstrated full engine performance, raising hopes for timely integration with ULA Vulcan Centaur launch vehicle; Intuitive Machines aiming for Q1 2023 Nova-C launch via SpaceX F9; ISRO Chandrayaan-3 to launch on GSLV NET Feb 2023; JAXA SLIM targeting March 2023 for launch on H-IIA

Credits: JAXA, IM, Astrobotic, ISRO, ispace