Tuesday / 7 Nov 2023

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NASA and Boeing Making Progress on Artemis Moon Rocket Block 1B Configuration

Despite concerns from NASA Office of Inspector General over supply chain transparency, Artemis team continues to advance SLS, with major work on LOX tank weld confidence article (5 of 7 such test pieces) for SLS exploration upper stage proceeding at Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans; SLS Block 1B with exploration upper stage / Orion crew capsule features 40% additional payload capacity vs Block 1 (27 / 38 t) as is slated to carry 4 astronauts to Gateway station (including 1 ESA astronaut) and 2 to lunar surface via SpaceX HLS during Artemis 4 NET September 2028

Credits: NASA / Michael DeMocker, Boeing

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 3-6 Nov 2023

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Astrobotic and Intuitive Machines Prepare for Tandem Approach to Lunar Surface

Task Orders 2-AB and 2-IM, the first of the NASA Commercial Lunar Payload Services, set to be fulfilled soon: 1.9-m tall, 2.5-m diameter Astrobotic Peregrine awaiting integration with ULA rocket at Astrotech Space facility in Titusville FL with launch planned for 24 Dec from SLC-41, CCSFS carrying 21 payloads (6 NASA, 15 independent); 4.3-m tall, 1.5-m diameter Intuitive Machines Nova-C lander now targeting late Nov shipping to KSC and 12 Jan 2024 launch from LC-39A carrying 11 payloads (5 NASA, 6 independent); With Peregrine taking ~1-month transfer vs Nova-C ~1-week, the 2 USA landers may reach Moon surface mere days apart

Credits: Astrobotic, Intuitive Machines

Friday / 3 Nov 2023

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Qosmosys Joins Commercial Lunar Lander Market Backed by US$100M Funding Round

Headquartered in Singapore with operations in Toulouse and Houston, lunar / space startup Qosmosys is led by Francois Dubrulle with threefold focus on robotics, transportation, and science enabling space exploration to Moon and beyond, a “shared responsibility of all nations and individuals” as articulated in detailed manifesto featuring wisdom of Carl Sagan, Arthur Clarke, Konstantin Tsiolkovsky; 8-m tall / 4.2-m diameter ZeusX flagship spacecraft being developed through Airbus and New Frontier Aerospace collaborations and will consist of service module, lander, rover – featuring payload capacity of 500kg to lunar orbit, 800kg to surface; Inaugural launch NET 2027

Credits: Qosmosys, Twitter / @FrancoisDubrull

Tuesday / 31 Oct 2023

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Blue Origin Advances Blue Moon Line of Lunar Landers for Commercial and Artemis Missions

Pathfinder Mission MK1-SN001 to demonstrate 16-m tall Blue Moon Mark 1 (MK1) technology including 100-m accurate lidar-based landing system, BE-7 engines, cryogenics, and lunar comms ahead of first commercial mission MK1-SN002 offering 3 tons of payload capacity to customers; Demo missions slated for 2024 & 2025 per successful Blue Origin bid for second US$3.4B HLS contract awarded 19 May; Blue Moon Mark 2 (MK2) to carry 4 astronauts to lunar surface near MSP during Artemis 5 NET Sep 2029

Pictured: Blue Origin Founder Jeff Bezos, NASA Director Bill Nelson; Credits: NASA, GSFC, Arizona State University, Blue Origin

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

Tuesday / 24 Oct 2023

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ISRO Chairman Looking Forward to Domestic Human Spaceflight Including Women Vyomanauts to Moon 2040

Indian Human Spaceflight Programm (IHSP) on track to launch crewed mission to space following successful Test Vehicle Abort Mission-1, the first of 4 planned abort tests to be conducted prior to 3 Gaganyaan uncrewed test flights in 2024 culminating in 3-crewmember Gaganyaan-4 mission NET 2025; Female-appearing humanoid robot Vyommitra to ride on Gaganyaan-2 & 3, while ISRO will seek human women Vyomanauts from future classes of fighter pilots in the long term, and recruit women scientists to work in space in the near-term per S Somanath

Credits: ISRO

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 20-23 Oct 2023

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Asia Space Powers China, India, Japan and S Korea Lining Up to Conduct Human and Robotic Moon Landings

CNSA to launch Queqiao-2 communications relay to an elliptical lunar frozen orbit NET March 2024 in support of MSP & far side Chang’E missions and as precursor for Solar System-wide interplanetary constellation; Inaugural launch of 92-m tall Long March 10 rocket expected NET 2027 ahead of 2020s human landings; ISRO tasked with human Moon landings NLT 2040 as Chandrayaan-3 data being analyzed and LUPEX, a south pole lander / rover collaboration with JAXA, planned for NET 2025; JAXA SLIM on route to Moon carrying LEV-1/2 surface probes with Lunar Obit Injection slated for late Dec; KARI Danuri orbiter continuing 1-year nominal mission ending 16 Dec, striving for lunar lander / rover mission NLT 2030

Credits: JAXA, KARI, CNSA

Tuesday / 17 Oct 2023

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Space Leaders in Major Himalayan Neighbors, India and China, Call for Human Moon Landings

While Chandrayaan-3 Vikram lander remains in sleep mode, ISRO Chairman S. Somanath (T) emphasizing independent access to space, telling students ‘It is not only ISRO, everybody can do it in space’, citing 5 India companies including Skyroot (Hyderabad) and Agnikul (Chennai) while sharing his prediction of a woman landing on the Moon during Chandrayaan-10, a sentiment shared by India Prime Minister Modi; CNSA Taikonauts preparing for 2020s lunar landings, inaugural launch of new-generation crew spacecraft set for 2027 per first China Taikonaut Yang Liwei in remarks commemorating 20th observance of the Shenzhou 5

Credits: SPC, CNSA, IISc

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 13-16 Oct 2023

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Astronomy from the Moon is Increasing Focus of International Moon Missions

Unique vantage of lunar surface is attracting multitude of astronomy initiatives: ILO-X Galaxy imaging precursor instrument suite launching on Intuitive Machines Nova-C lander NET Nov 15; AstronetX Lunar-based Camera (L-CAM), led by Tabetha Boyajian of LSU, may launch on ispace Mission 2 NET 2024; Dipole antenna LuSEE-Lite heading to Schrödinger Basin aboard Draper / ispace APEX 1.0 lander NET 2025, while 4-monopole antenna LuSEE-Night expected to launch to Moon far side in late 2025 / early 2026 on Firefly Aerospace Blue Ghost lander; CNSA Chang’e-8 to conduct soft-x-ray (<3 KeV) observation NET 2028

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