Category Archives: Lunar Settlement

Friday / 18 Aug 2023

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International Lunar Year Being Fostered by US State Department as DARPA Advances 10-Year Lunar Architecture

US Department of State, led by Secretary Antony Blinken and Acting Deputy Secretary Victoria Nuland, is hosting high level discussions on the launch of an International Lunar Year (ILY), modeled on International Geophysical Year (1957-58), International Space Year (1992), International Polar Year (2007-08); Called for in US National Cislunar Science & Technology Strategy, an ILY would coordinate international developments in Moon studies, specifically geophysical networks, heliophysics and far-side radio astronomy; 1 July 2027 — 31 Dec 2028 suggested by Bobby Braun of JHUAPL; DARPA offering ≤US$1M for commercial lunar service plans under LunA-10 program, winners to be announced at LSIC 10-11 Oct

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

Friday / 3 March 2023

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Moon Time Standardization May Advance International Cislunar Communication, Navigation Capabilities

Interoperable ‘LunaNet’ communication / navigation protocol initiative will require agreement on common time on & around Moon similar to Coordinated Universal Time on Earth & Earth orbit, per ESA statement; Standard Moon time would enable NASA Lunar Communications Relay and Navigation Systems, ESA Moonlight and other nodes in Moon network to share spatial measurement as with Earth-based International Terrestrial Reference Frame used by GNSS; Nature and composition of governing organization and whether to fix Moon time to Earth time or create independent local selenocentric system TBD by lunar stakeholders

Pictured: ESA Moonlight Navigation Manager Javier Ventura-Traveset, ESA Navigation Engineer Pietro Giordano; Credits: ESA, NASA, Twitter

Tuesday / 8 Nov 2022

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MVA Symposium 2022 Opens with Total Lunar Eclipse, Egalitarian Considerations, on USA Election Day

Advancing Cislunar development with best practices for the benefit of all 8,000,000,000 is the business of the Moon Village Association 6th annual Workshop & Symposium 8-10 Nov at the LAX Sheraton Gateway; inaugurated early 8 Nov by a reddish Moon total eclipse amidst Galaxy Stars, the MVA WS&S will introduce the Lunar Commerce Portfolio, well timed for addressing the perennial question “Who Owns the Moon” and exploring Moon South Pole development, while Republicans and Democrats, Libertarians and Egalitarians, amongst others, determine USA policy futures

Pictured: Giuseppe Reibaldi, John Mankins, Guo Linli, P. Sreekumar; Credits: MVA, NASA, Twitter

Tuesday / 18 Oct 2022

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Moon Village Association and Beyond Earth Institute Advance Lunar Sustainability and Habitation

MVA Global Expert Group on Sustainable Lunar Activities (GEGSLA) meeting for 21st time on 19 October to formulate recommendations on sustainable governmental and independent Moon exploration best practices to be presented to United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Use of Outer Space; Meeting will conclude ‘Consensus Phase’, with ‘Harmonization Phase’ to follow for next 2 meetings (16 Nov, 21 Dec); Beyond Earth Institute also promotes guidelines for political, economic and environomental sustainability in paper Toward A Cislunar Ecosystem With Human Presence: The Underpinning For Permanent Lunar Communities

Credits: MVA, BEI

Tuesday / 11 Oct 2022

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Cislunar Development Policy to be Discussed at Beyond Earth Symposium 12-13 Oct

34 featured speakers in space policy, academia and industry to consider guidelines conducive to long-term human community & economy in space and on / around Moon at hybrid conference hosted by University of Arizona Center for Outreach & Collaboration in Washington DC; Toward a Cislunar Ecosystem with Human Presence panel on 13 Oct will be moderated by (L-R) Laura Forczyk (Beyond Earth Institute), feature speakers Scott Pace (George Washington University), Paul Stimers (K&L Gates), Vishnu Reddy (University of Arizona LPL), John Mankins (Moon Village Association) and Angeliki Kapoglou (ESA); In-person ($345) and online ($49) registration available here

Credits: BE, University of Arizona

Friday / 29 July 2022

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LRO Diviner Lunar Radiometer Experiment Analysis Shows Moon Pits Offer Habitable Thermal Profile

100m-diameter depression within Mare Tranquillitatis maintains baseline -43°C during ~14 Earth-day lunar night (vs -173°C surface average), 17°C during lunar day (vs 127°C) due to distinct cavity overhang, per study of DLRE data led by Tyler Horvath and David Paige of UCLA, Paul Hayne of CU Boulder; Moderate temperatures may enable extended human habitation, exploration; First surface-based thermal images to be obtained with Lunar Compact InfraRed Imaging System, expected to launch to MSP NET Nov 2023 on Masten Mission One

Credits: NASA, GSFC, Arizona State University, ESA

International Moon Day Edition
Wednesday / 20 July 2022

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International Space / Moon Day Honors Past Achievements, Challenges Artemis Generation to Continue Exploration

UN-Declared International Moon Day (20 July) commemorating Armstrong / Aldrin first human landing on another world, fostered by Moon Village Association President Giuseppe Reibaldi and others, will be inaugurated in Huntsville AL and 39 Global Events in 24 countries / 6 continents; Robotic landings anticipated in 2022 include ispace Mission 1, Astrobotic Peregrine Mission One, Intuitive Machines IM-1; Orbiters NASA Artemis 1, KARI Danuri / NASA Capstone on route preparing for 3rd trajectory correction maneuver; Artemis 3 human Moon return NLT 4 July 2026

Credits: MVA, ESA, NASA

Friday / 15 July 2022

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Malapert Mountain Beckons Lunar Exploration, Science, Communication, Industry

As world space powers focus future landing & Moon base efforts on Moon South Pole / prospecting H2O hidden in PSRs near Shackleton Rim, critical infrastructure zone atop nearby (~130km) Malapert Massif (86°S, 0°) remains undeclared by NASA, CNSA, Roscosmos, ESA, JAXA, ISRO or SpaceX; Malapert possesses indispensable qualities for MSP buildout: A unique astrophysical vantagepoint; Constant line-of-sight to Earth (long-duration Earth observation / communication redundancy) and Shackleton (local comms and power beaming); 70%+ solar illumination; Geological significance (border area of South Pole–Aitken basin); 4 suitable 150-m landing sites have been identified by Carnegie Mellon / Astrobotic

Credits: NASA / LROC / ASU / N. Petro / ESA

Tuesday / 17 May 2022

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Breakthrough for ISRU Moon Agriculture as Plants Germinate in Lunar Regolith for 1st Time

12-g Moon samples collected during Apollo 11, 12, 17 utilized by 3 researchers at UF Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences demonstrate viability of lunar regolith as growing medium; Arabidopsis thaliana (thale cress) seeds germinated at “rates close to 100%” within 48-60 hours, similar to control group with volcanic ash substrate; Regolith-grown plants were affected by higher differentially expressed gene rate which study authors attribute to solar wind, cosmic radiation effects, abundance of iron oxides; Outcomes varied by sample location with Apollo 17 most robust

Pictured: Study authors (L) Robert Ferl, (R) Anna-Lisa Paul
Credits: UF / IFAS / Tyler Jones