Friday / 30 June 2023

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4 Teams Advance in NASA Competition to Provide Energy Solutions for Lunar Night Survival

Watts on the Moon, a NASA STMD Centennial Challenges program, to award US$400,000 / ea to Phase 2, Level 2 winners who will go on to compete in Phase 2, Level 3: UC Santa Barbara Experimental Cosmology (High Efficiency Long-Range Power Solution), Michigan Technological University Planetary Surface Technology Development Lab (Tethered Mechanism for Persistent Energy Storage and Transmission), Electric Moon (Power the Moon with GaN Multilevel Converters), Orbital Mining Corporation (No Replacement For DC-placement); 2 finalists will have technology tested in vacuum chamber simulating lunar conditions and split $1.5M prize NET 2024

Pictured: MSFC Public Affairs Officer Jonathan Deal, Centennial Challenges Program Manager Denise Morris; Credits: NASA

Tuesday / 27 June 2023

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China Advancing Robotic Lunar Exploration Program, Human Landings in 2020s, Public Outreach

10+ years of continuous operation on surface of Moon set to continue in phase 4 of Chinese Lunar Exploration Program with Queqiao-2 lunar orbital relay launching in early 2024, followed by far side sample return Chang’E-6 launching NET May 2024, landing at ~43.0°S, 154.0°W after 53-day trip; First regolith samples from far side will be analyzed under direction of Lunar Exploration and Space Engineering Center (LESEC); Organizational representatives of DSEL, LESEC, USTC inspire youth with Revealing Moon Mysteries, Exploring the Universe outreach program; International Lunar Research Station Cooperation Organization (ILRSCO) making progress on Moon base consortium; CMSA targeting 2020s crewed lunar mission

Pictured (L-R): Science and Technology Daily Host Gong Qian, LESEC Engineer Zhang Tianli, LESEC International Cooperation Department Project Manager Shen Yuduo, USTC Associate Professor Low Jing Xiang; Credits: CNSA, DSEL, UDN, LESEC, Science and Technology Daily 

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 23-26 June 2023

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India Aims for the Moon with Chandrayaan-3 and Artemis / Technology Partnership with USA

Chandrayaan-3 awaiting 8-day launch window opening 12 July at Satish Dhawan Space Centre / landing attempt at 4 x 2.4 km landing area at 69.367621°S, 32.348126°E; Science payloads to be utilized over 1-lunar day mission include Radio Anatomy of Moon Bound Hypersensitive ionosphere and Atmosphere (RAMBHA) to characterize near surface lunar plasma; India to enhance lunar & space capabilities via Artemis membership and steps outlined in New Technology Partnership for the Future section of document issued by White House, which calls for facilitation of technology transfer and export control reform

Pictured (L-R): U.S. State Dept Deputy Assistant Secretary for India Nancy Jackson, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson, India Ambassador to the United States Taranjit Sandhu, ISRO representative Krunal Joshi; Credits: NASA, ISRO
 

Friday / 23 June 2023

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India Joins Artemis as International Lunar Research Station Builds its Coalition for Sustained Moon Activity

India and Equador are the latest signatories to USA-led Artemis Accords, bringing total national membership to 27; ISRO-NASA human spaceflight cooperation plan to be detailed by end of 2023 including ISRO vyomanaut training at JSC, ISRO ISS mission & NISAR launch NET 2024 – partnership “spans the seas to the stars” per joint statement; ILRS reportedly welcoming new partner nations Bangladesh, Iran, Mongolia, Pakistan, Peru, Thailand (of Asia-Pacific Space Cooperation Organization) and UAE (1st nation with dual Artemis / ILRS membership) while talks ongoing with 10+ other countries

Credits: NASA, ISRO, ILRS, CNSA, Roscosmos, Twiiter / @htTweets
 

Tuesday / 20 June 2023

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Artemis 2 Lunar Flyby Mission Advancing with Orion Testing / Integration, Crewmember Preparation

NASA will display Orion spacecraft to media in late summer including the capsule that is to fly Artemis 2 crew 8,889 km past Moon prior to lunar flyby, powered by ESA European Service Module-2 now in NASA possession at KSC undergoing testing; Orion Artemis II Optical Communications System (O2O) being integrated; Artemis 2 Mission Specialist Jeremy Hansen of CSA-ASC will carry lessons to Moon from Vision Quest with Anishinaabe Elder on Sagkeeng First Nation land in Manitoba, and is to participate in Canada Day celebrations in Ottawa 1 July and lead Calgary Stampede Parade 7 July

Credits: NASA, ESA, CSA-ASC, Twitter / @Astro_Jeremy
 

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 16-19 June 2023

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India and Russia Accelerating Quest to Pioneer Moon South Pole

ISRO Chandrayaan-3 lunar lander undergoing final integration with LVM-3 rocket at Satish Dhawan Space Centre and is slated for launch to Moon between 12 and 19 July followed by ~1 month cruise and landing at 69.37°S, 32.35°E with ≤ 2 m / sec final velocity touchdown; Roscosmos Luna-25 (47 years after Luna-24) is to follow NET 11 Aug launching from Vostochny Cosmodrome, with direct TLI route powered by Soyuz-2.1b with Fregat upper stage lasting only a few days until landing at 69.55°S, 43.54°E, just ~120km distant from Chandrayaan-3; Intuitive Machines Nova-C NET Q3, Astrobotic Griffin NET Nov 2024, NASA Artemis 3 NET Dec 2025, Chang’E-7 around 2026 also targeting MSP

Pictured: ISRO Chairman S. Somanath, Roscosmos Director Yury Borisov; Credits: ISRO, Roscosmos, Lavochkin
 

Friday / 16 June 2023

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NASA Fostering Lunar Technologies from Small and Research Institution-Affiliated Businesses

Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) US$150,000 Phase 1 awards to be made to 249 companies / 39 Research Institutions (300 proposals / $45M total) including many lunar-focused enterprises e.g., CA-based Cislune, which plans to mine water, refine & sell hydrogen as fuel, is recipient of SBIR awards for basalt construction (with Hawaii Island-based Pacific International Space Center for Exploration Systems) and minimally invasive excavation techniques and STTR awards for lunar rover (with UCF) & launch pad designs

Pictured: Cislune CEO Erik Franks; Credits: NASA, Cislune, PISCES, Astroport / UTSA
 

Tuesday / 13 June 2023

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NASA Scientists Contend Hospitable Conditions for Life at MSP Ought to be Consideration of Human Moon Landings

Prabal Saxena, Heather Graham, Natalie Curran, Betsy Pugel, Andrew Needham, and Noah Petro of GSFC and Aaron Regberg of JSC (L-R) show areas around Moon South Pole being analyzed for Artemis III and other future human missions are relatively conducive to certain microorganisms (B. subtilis, D. radiodurans) due to surface topography (75% protection from solar UV radiation south of 83.5°S) and temperature (maximum < 323 K) in paper presented at 25 May Artemis III Candidate Landing Regions Workshop; Study co-author Heather Graham tells Leonard David of Space.com that humans most “likely vector” for life on Moon

Credits: NASA, LinkedIn, LSSW, GSFC, JSC

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 9-12 June 2023

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National Moon Missions Around World Making Final Preparations for Launch / Lunar Surface Landing Attempts

ULA Vulcan Centaur on track to launch Astrobotic Peregrine NET July following nominal static-fire test of BE-4 methalox first stage engines, upper stage anomaly investigation ongoing, flight qualification 98% done; ISRO targeting 1-week launch window starting 12 July for Chandrayaan-3; Roscosmos set to launch Luna-25 on 11 Aug; JAXA SLIM to launch NET September, with video updates to be released as completed lander is transferred JAXA Space Exploration Center (Sagamihara Campus) to Tanegashima Space Center; Intuitive Machines making significant testing progress, on track for 2023 Nova-C launch

Credits: Intuitive Machines, JAXA

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