Tuesday / 6 June 2023

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European Space Agency Director General Working to Achieve Human Launch Capability, Crewed Moon Landings

ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher makes clear his desire for Europe to achieve independent space capabilities with parity to China, USA, India including human launch / Moon landings in comments given to Financial Times, host of Investing in Space conference in London 5-6 June; Ariane 6 making inaugural launch NET 2024 could serve as basis for human-rated launch system, commercial crew-style model also being considered; ESA member nations to vote on funding proposals at November Space Summit in Seville, Spain – members currently have agreed to ~ EUR€16.9B / 3 year funding (US$18.1B)

Credits: ESA, Arianespace

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 2-5 June 2023

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Chinese on Moon 2020s?

China Manned Space Agency Deputy Director Lin Xiqiang reaffirms national commitment to crewed lunar landings in 2020s, echoing similar declaration by Wu Weiren, CLEP Chief Designer in late April; NASA Administrator Bill Nelson warns of territorialism at MSP, expresses desire to “preserve those potential [water] reserves for the international community” in interview with Spanish media; India, Russia, Japan and USA set to join China in operating robotically on Moon in summer / autumn 2023 with Chandrayaan-3 launch NET July 12, Luna-25 and SLIM NET August, IM and Astrobotic CLPS landers NET Q3

Credits: ILRS, OpenAI, People’s Daily / TikTok

Weekend Edition
Fri-Tues / 26-30 May 2023

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Blue Origin Team to Land Precursor Missions NET 2024 / 2025 Ahead of Uncrewed HLS Demo & Artemis 5

Under Sustaining Lunar Development $3.4B contract, ‘National Team’ composed of Blue Origin, Lockheed Martin, Draper, Boeing, Astrobotic and Honeybee Robotics to land uncrewed mission demonstrating life support and NRHO ascent capability followed by Artemis 5, in which 2 crew-members are to be ferried by Blue Moon lander from Gateway station to surface, aided by Cislunar Transporter LH2/LOX fuel depot NET 2029; Prior to contracted landings, 2 self-funded landings are take place NET 2024 / 2025 as part of technology maturation process; Blue Origin reportedly investing ≥ NASA’s $3.4B award in HLS

Credits: Blue Origin

Friday / 26 May 2023

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Artemis Lunar Scientists and Operations Experts Brainstorm While Clive Neal Advances Lunar Resource Utilization

How best to meet goals outlined in Artemis 3 Science Definition Report within operational constraints (e.g., 8 hours of aggregate EVA time, up to 2 hours in PSR) being considered in series of collaborative USRA / LPI Lunar Surface Science Workshops; Niki Werkheiser, Anne Garber, Cindy Evans, Sarah Noble among NASA team members engaging in science operation architecture development with 180+ participants in latest LSSW 19 on Integrating Science into Artemis; Next LSSW on lunar mapping to be held Aug 16-17; May AIAA Space Resources Webinar hosted by Clive Neal on Immediate Next Steps Towards Using Lunar Resources to Sustain Human Exploration & Drive the Cislunar Economy to be available on YouTube

Credits: ESA

Tuesday / 23 May 2023

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New NASA-funded Research Center to Characterize Lunar Environment and Volatile Elements / Compounds

Biochemistry Professor Thomas Orlando of Georgia Tech to lead interdisciplinary Center for Lunar Environment and Volatile Exploration Research (CLEVER) under NASA SSERVI award (US$1.5M/yr over 5 years, $7.5M total) to investigate space weather interactions with volatiles (H2O, OH, O2, CH4, H), invaluable substances for sustained human life support and energy needs of crewed Moon surface missions during Artemis and beyond; Additional CLEVER contributors are affiliated with Johns Hopkins University APL, UCF, University of Hawaiʻi, NASA AMES and KSC; 4 other lunar science teams to receive similar grants

Credits: GT, NASA

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 19-22 May 2023

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7 National and Independent / Commercial Lunar Landers Expected to Launch Within 1 Year

ISRO and Roscosmos targeting similar launch dates (NET 2nd week in July / 13 July respectively) and landing locations in Moon South Pole region (N / NE of Boguslavsky crater ~118km apart), for Chandrayaan-3 and Luna-25 landing missions, however Soyuz 2.1b will carry Luna-25 to direct TLI over a few days, whereas CY-3 will perform a series of Oberth raising maneuvers following LVM3 launch, resulting in ~1 month trip to orbital insertion; Astrobotic Peregrine, IM Nova-C, and JAXA SLIM striving for NET Q3 launch, IM-2 early 2024, Chang’E-6 NET May 2024

Credits: JAXA Lunar and Mars Exploration Logo Contest / Twitter @jsec_jaxa_jp

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

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 12-15 May 2023

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5 Efforts to Achieve Summer Moon Landings Underway

Chandrayaan-3 may lead ≤ 5 Moon landings during summer, with July launch via LVM 3 on track per anonymous ISRO source cited by Hindustan Times, contrary to Minister Singh statement; Roscosmos Luna-25 targeting 13 July launch to 69.55°S, 43.54°E landing site, just ~118 km away from nominal Chandrayaan-3 site at 69.37°S, 32.35°E; Intuitive Machines Nova-C now set for launchpad arrival “mid-to-late Q3” per CEO Steve Altemus; Astrobotic Peregrine launch prospects hinge on ULA Vulcan Centaur flight readiness, firing test planned for next week; JAXA SLIM is also awaiting investigation of H3 rocket failure with NET August launch

Credits: KARI, ISRO, Roscosmos, IM, Astrobotic, JAXA

Friday / 12 May 2023

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Space Professionals Express Optimism for Moon Exploration, Growing Public Support Reflected in Poll

Artemis 2 Mission Specialist Jeremy Hansen links earthbound challenges (food security, healthcare, climate) to human exploration of the Moon, enabling “eight billion people to row in the same direction and work on these problems”; National Air and Space Museum curator Jennifer Levasseur tells Milwaukee Journal Sentinel she sees “palpable” increase in engagement of young people with space installations; Economist / YouGov survey confirms these sentiments, with 64% of USA adults supporting human Moon landings, with 23% favoring national leadership, 11% preferring commercial entities taking charge while 48% want a dual approach

Credits: NASA, SpaceX

Tuesday / 9 May 2023

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New Study Confirms Solid Core of Moon, Raises Questions on Disappearance of Magnetic Field

Utilizing Monte Carlo algorithmic modelling technique, drawing from Apollo seismic and GRAIL gravity field data, researchers at CNRS, Paris Observatory and other French institutions conclude Moon contains solid inner core ~516 km diameter with ~7,822 kg / m3, likely composed of Fe, representing ~15% relative to total size (by comparison, Earth’s inner core is ~20%); Findings concur with 2011 NASA study, and suggest mantle overturn activity as mechanism; Authors stress ramifications for ‘evolution of the Moon magnetic field’; Farside Seismic Suite to further investigate structure of Moon on Draper CLPS CP-12 mission lander NET 2025

Credits: Briaud, A., Ganino, C., Fienga, A. et al. The lunar solid inner core and the mantle overturn. Nature (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-023-05935-7; NASA