Category Archives: Lunar Radiation Environment

Friday / 8 October 2021

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Spacebit Aims to Restore Ukraine as Space Leader via International Commercial Moon Missions

CEO Pavlo Tanasyuk indicates UK company Spacebit will plant Ukraine national flag on Moon, held aloft by Ukrainian-mined titanium pole along with radiation and thermal sensors; Comments given during National Day at Expo 2020 Dubai (a 182-day event hosted on 4.4 km2 grounds in UAE) were unclear on which lander will be booked for mission, with Astrobotic to deliver 1.4-kg Asagumo walking rover on Peregrine and unspecified Spacebit payload on Intuitive Machines IM-1; Both CLPS providers striving for Q1 2022 launch

Credits: World Expo 2020 Dubai, Spacebit, Wikipedia

Friday / 24 January 2020

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Commercial Lunar Services Providers To Carry Payloads Aiding Astronomy And Lunar Science

NASA Finalizes 16 Experiments And Technology Demonstrations To Fly With Commercial Lunar Services Providers; Astrobotic Peregrine Lander (L) Will Carry 11 Payloads Using ULA Vulcan Launcher Including PROSPECT Ion-Trap Mass Spectrometer (C); Intuitive Machines Will Launch Nova-C Lander (R) With 5 Payloads On SpaceX Falcon 9; Radio Observations Lunar Surface (ROLSES) Low-Frequency Experiment On Nova-C Will Test Feasibility Of Large Radio Telescopes On Lunar Surface; Both Landers Will Carry Laser Retro-Reflector Arrays To Aid Navigation

Credits: NASA

Friday / 20 Sep 2019

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ESA Seeks Ideas For Exploring Lunar Caves

ESA Open Space Innovation Platform Seeks Proposals For Exploring Lunar Caves; Lava Tubes On Moon, Similar To Those Found On Volcanic Islands Including Hawai’i, Are Sheltered From Space Radiation And Seen As Future Sites For Lunar Science And Settlement; Themes Of Proposals To Include Robotic Concepts For Cave Access Along Vertical Walls, Navigation In Horizontal Cave Segments, And Science Payloads; Proposals Are Due 27 September For Program Selection Closing 31 Oct

Credits: NASA, National Park Service

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 12-15 Oct 2018

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Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Patrols Ahead Of Future Missions

NASA Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Returns Data And Images 9 Years After Entering Moon Orbit; Diviner Instrument Aboard LRO Along With NASA Moon Mineralogy Mapper On Chandrayaan-2 Find Widespread Water On Moon; CRaTER Cosmic Ray Telescope Characterizes Lunar Radiation Environment For Future Missions; LRO Finds And Photographs Crash Site Of Europe SMART-1 Probe Deliberately Impacted Into Moon; Produces 5-Minute Virtual Tour Of Moon In 4K; LRO Engaged To Photograph Israel SpaceIL Landing In 2019

Credits: NASA, ESA, NASA/GSFC

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 22-25 June 2018

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LRO Mission Enters 10th Year Orbiting Moon

On 23 June Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) Embarks On 10th Year, Mission Goals Include Temporarily Going Off Nadir (Straight-On Imaging) Fall 2018 To Utilize Camera Stereo, Oblique Imaging; Inertial Measurement Unit Currently Powered Down To Reserve Power For Critical Events, Lunar Eclipses; In Lunar Eccentric Polar Mapping Orbit (20-km Altitude South Pole, 165-km North Pole) With 7 Instruments Providing High Resolution 3D Moon Mapping, Regolith & Radiation Observations, Data May Assist In Future South Pole And Far Side Lunar Landings

Credits: NASA

Friday / 6 Apr 2018

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Preserving Apollo Moon Landing Sites For Research Recommended By White House

White House Office Of Science & Technology Publishes Report “Protecting & Preserving Apollo Program Lunar Landing Sites & Artifacts”; Recommends Studying Long-Term Effects Of Lunar Environment Including Extreme Temperatures, Lunar Dust, Micro-Meteoroids, Solar Radiation On Over 187,000-kg Human-Made Materials Left Behind By 6 Apollo Missions; Opportunity For International, Commercial Cooperation With Future Moon Missions To Survey On A “Reciprocal, Transparent, Mutually Beneficial Basis”

Credits: NASA, White House, Lunar and Planetary Society

Friday / 8 Dec 2017

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Russia Advancing Luna-25 Lander & Luna-26 Orbiter Missions With New Contracts

First Russian Return To Moon Luna-25 To Land Near South Pole 2019; Roscosmos State Corporation Contracts ~2 Billion Rubles (~US$34M) For Luna-26 Orbiter To Complete By 2020 Feb 29: NPO Lavochkin Receives 80% Contract Value; Luna-26 Weighing <2200kg Will Relay Data From Luna-25 Lander In Boguslavsky Crater; Together Will Study Solar Wind Interaction With Moon Surface — May Inform Future VLF Astronomy

Credits: NPO Lavochkin

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 8-11 Sep 2017

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Moon Surface Supercomputer
RFI Being Sought By NASA

Radiation Tolerant Computer Which Could Be Used In Short Duration Moon Surface Mission, Operate In Vacuum Of Space Under -40°C To +70°C Temperatures, Provide 128MB Of Data Storage & 128MB Memory NASA RFI Due Sep 13; Vital Communications Infrastructure Will Be Needed For Multi-Payload & Human Missions To Moon Surface (Potentially Early 2020s), Far Side Moon, Deep Space, Mars, Beyond; Current 1-Year Testing Of HPE Linux Supercomputer At ISS; LADEE 2013 Lunar Laser Communication Demonstration Proved Record-Breaking Downlink Speed 622Mbps / Error-Free Uplink Speed 20Mbps, Revolutionary Technology Was 50% Weight Of Comparable Radio-Based Terminal & Used 25% Less Power

Credits: NASA, GNC, LADEE, CNN, HPE, LLCD, ESA

Thursday / 7 May 2015

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Radiation Environment May Alter Lunar Regolith

UNHcrater0515

Researchers From UNH & NASA Goddard Publish Study Detailing How ‘Sparking’ May Affect Lunar Regolith In Permanently Shadowed Craters; High-Energy Particles From Large Solar Storms Or Cosmic Rays Buildup Electric Charges Faster Than Regolith Can Dissipate Them, Particularly In -240°C Permanently Shadowed Polar Craters, Regolith Then Disintegrates Into Smaller Particles Of Distinct Materials; Researchers Used LRO CRaTER Instrument & Custom Computer Model; Team Will Now Utilize LRO Instruments At New Lower Orbit To Find Evidence For Sparking

Image Credit: NASA, UNH

Thursday / 15 January 2015

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Science Lectures: Lunar Swirls For Space Exploration, Origin Of Moon

SwirlyTheia

Ruth Bamford At BIS London 21 Jan To Explain How Mini Magnetospheres (Lunar Swirls) On Moon May Provide Key For Interplanetary Travel / Radiation Protection; Using Technology Based On This Phenomenon, Radiation Protecting Hardware Mass Could Be Kept Below 3000kg Requiring Only 10-20kW Of Power, Well Within Practical Expectations; Sarah Stewart Of UC Davis To Give SETI Lecture On 27 Jan Detailing Models Of The Giant Impact Believed To Have Created The Moon, A Follow-Up From Recent Billy Quarles SETI Lecture On “Theia’s Date With Destiny“

Image Credit: Fahad Sulheria, RAL Space, UC Davis, NASA