Category Archives: Lunar Communications

Friday / 26 April 2024

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Intuitive Machines Well Positioned to Capitalize on Growing Cislunar Economy

Predicting US$250M revenue in 2024 and estimating $70M cash on hand, market analyst Stephen Tobin makes bullish case for Houston TX-based Intuitive Machines (LUNR) despite $53M negative equity as of Q4 2023 earnings report; Pointing to success of IM-1 and upcoming NASA CLPS-funded IM-2 and -3 missions NET Q4 2024 / 2025 as well as $30M Lunar Terrain Vehicle (with Boeing, Northrop Grumman), $719M Joint Polar Satellite System (with KBR), and $5M Fission Surface Power (with X-energy) contracts, Tobin suggests IM lunar services will be in demand by commercial interests and small national space agencies eager to utilize Earth-Moon / cislunar transport, operational and communication capabilities

 
Credits: Intuitive Machines

Tuesday / 12 March 2024

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Lunar Communication Infrastructure Being Prepared for Implementation by Space Agencies and Industry

Lunar LTE Studies initiative LunarLiTES enhancing Multiple Access Testbed for Research in Innovative Communications Systems (MATRICS) emulator at NASA Glenn Research Center with 4G / 5G wireless capabilities ahead of pioneering mission to demonstrate Moon-based communication on the lunar surface between Lunar Outpost Mobile Autonomous Prospecting Platform (MAPP) rover and lander via Nokia Bell Labs instruments during IM-2 NET late 2024; Lunar Pathfinder relay built by Surrey Satellite Technology to follow NET 2026 on Firefly Blue Ghost Mission 2; CNSA Queqiao-2 relay at Wenchang SLC for launch this month

Credits: NASA GSFC

Tuesday / 6 Feb 2024

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Japan Pioneers Lunar Broadcasting with First Amateur Radio Station on Moon

JAXA Ham Radio Club (call sign JQ1ZVI) has established radio communication in 437.41 MHz frequency with 1 W UHF transmitter weighing just 90 g aboard Lunar Excursion Vehicle (LEV-1) hopper (2.2 kg total mass), deployed from JAXA SLIM lander during 19 Jan UTC (20 Jan JST) landing descent; Signal containing Morse Code received by operators around Earth from a distance of ~380,000 km, including C.A. Muller Radio Astronomy Station utilizing 25 m radio telescope at Dwingeloo NL; SLIM is currently dormant as lunar night transpires but JAXA operators will attempt reactivation upon lunar daybreak in mid-Feb

Credits: JAXA, Bard

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 15-18 Dec 2023

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Laser Communications Experiments Validating Technology for Space and Moon

Seeking to advance in-space communication beyond cost, security and bandwidth limitations of RF and building on Lunar Laser Communications Demonstration (LLCD, 2013-14), NASA now operating first 2-way laser relay link from Laser Communications Relay Demonstration (LCRD) orbital craft to Integrated LCRD Low Earth Orbit User Modem and Amplifier Terminal (ILLUMA-T) mounted on exposed facility of ISS Japanese Kibō module at 1.2 Gbps data rate, ~7x the average USA internet speed; Deep Space Optical Communications technology demonstration (DSOC) recently validated very deep space laser comms, sending data from JPL Psyche 16,000,000 km (~41x Earth-Moon distance) to Palomar Observatory

Credits: NASA / Dave Ryan

Friday / 13 Oct 2023

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China Bolstering Very-Long-Baseline Interferometry Network With 2 New Telescopes for Cislunar / Deep Space Tracking

The 5th and 6th radio telescopes of the China VLBI Network are under construction following groundbreaking at sites in Changbai Mountains (near North Korea border) 11 Oct and in Shigatse, Tibet Autonomous Region, China in September; Shigatse station to feature 40-m radio telescope operating at 4,100-m; When linked to Nanshan 25m Radio Telescope (Ürümqi), Tianma 65-m Telescope (Shanghai), Beijing 50-m antenna (Miyun) and Yunnan Astronomical Observatory 40-meter radio telescope (Kunming), network will extend to 3800 km and allow observation of multiple spacecraft with 18% increased resolution

Pictured: SHAO Director Shen Zhiqiang; Credits: SHAO, NAOC, CAS, CNSA

Friday / 28 July 2023

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Nokia on Track for 4G Cellular Communication Technology for Future Moon, Mars Missions NET 2024

Planning to brave unexplored conditions of Moon south pole Shackleton crater, Nokia Bell Labs (subsidiary of Finland parent company) intends to provide first-ever lunar 4G/LTE cellular internet technology via NASA Tipping Point award and in partnership with Intuitive Machines; IM-2 Nova-C lander will host space-hardened version of 4G/LTE microcell base station unit while 2 lunar vehicles (Lunar Outpost Rover and IM Micro-Nova Hopper) will host radio frequency antennae; IM-2 mission to launch from KSC on SpaceX Falcon 9 NET 2024, plan to provide critical communication networks for future crewed Artemis and robotic missions

Credits: Intuitive Machines, Nokia Bell Labs, NASA

Friday / 10 Feb 2023

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Capstone Lunar Orbit Pathfinder Team Attempting to Establish 2-Way Communication / Navigation Link with LRO

Led by Advanced Space, Capstone mission on 13th orbit of Moon, will soon exceed 3 months in 1,500 x 75,000-km near-rectilinear halo orbit (NRHO), the intended path of Lunar Gateway human waystation (launching NET Nov 2024); The Terran Orbital-built 6U CubeSat has ~56% fuel (120 m/s ΔV) remaining, on track to surpass 6-month goal in orbit following 11-day command loss / recovery; Team working to validate spacecraft-to-spacecraft navigation tech demonstration Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System with LRO, and attempt stand-alone navigation with Chip Scale Atomic Clock measurement of DSN radio signal

Pictured: Advanced Space CEO Bradley Cheetham; Credits: Advanced Space, NASA, Terran Orbital

Tuesday / 29 Nov 2022

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Japan Focuses on Moon with OMOTENASHI and EQUULEUS in Cislunar Space, ispace M1 Launching to Luna Surface

Despite 6U CubeSat OMOTENASHI ‘semi-hard impact’ failure, JAXA team led by Tatsuaki Hashimoto still working to reestablish communications and carry out testing in lunar orbit around March, at which time solar panels will be oriented towards Sun; Meanwhile fellow Artemis rideshare EQUULEUS, powered by 6-water thruster AQUARIUS propulsion system, on 18-month route to Earth-Moon L2 following 5,550-km lunar flyby / imaging; ispace expected to launch Hakuto-R lander via SpaceX F9 on Nov 30 with landing within Mare Frigoris (56°N, 1.4°E) in April-May 2023

 Credits: NASA, JAXA

Friday / 28 Oct 2022

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Quantum Space Announces October 2024 Mission QS-1 to Earth-Moon-Lagrange Points 1 and 2 with Cislunar Superhighway Ambitions

NewSpace enterprise Quantum Space working toward self-funded launch of 400-kg satellite to collect space situational awareness data in cislunar space over 3-year mission; Main visible imager payload will be provided by GEOST, spacecraft bus to be built by Blue Canyon which will carry commercial customer payloads; Co-founded by Kam Ghaffarin (L), who also is Founder of IBX, Executive Chair at X-energy, Intuitive Machines & Axiom Space; QS-1 to utilize commercial deep space ground stations, modular cislunar communication / servicing waystations to follow

Also Pictured: Quantum Space CEO Steve Jurczyk, CTO Ben Reed;
Credits: NASA, X-Energy, IAF, Quantum Space
 

Tuesday / 4 Oct 2022

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Swedish Space Corporation (SSC) Bolstering Global Ground Station Network Ahead of Lunar Mission Demands

Ka-band (26 GHz) deep space communication facilities in Chile and Australia to be added to SSC 10-station grid including Esrange (Sweden, 68°N), Inuvik (Canada, 68°N) Siracha (Thailand, 13°N), Clewiston (Florida, 26°N) South Point ‘Pete Conrad’ Ground Station (Hawaiʻi, 19°N), WASC (Australia, 29°S) and Santiago (Chile, 33°S); SSC to provide service for CLPS providers Astrobotic and Firefly during upcoming Peregrine (NET Q4 2022) and Blue Ghost (NET 2024) landing missions; SSC partnering with CNES, Safran Data Systems of France on new antenna systems and support

Pictured: SSC CEO Stefan Gardefjord, CNES Director of Strategy Jean-Marc Astorg; Credits: SSC, Twitter