Category Archives: LunarCubes

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 / 15 Nov 2022

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NASA Moon Flagship Artemis 1 Ready for Inaugural Launch to Lunar Orbit and Secondary Payload Deep Space Delivery

Weather forecast estimated at 90% favorable for 2-hour window set to begin on 16 Nov 01:04 EST for launch of Artemis 1 mission from historic KSC Launch Pad 39B; Live broadcast to begin with SLS core stage fueling with Launch Control Center commentary at 15:30 on 15 Nov followed by launch coverage starting at 10:30, continuing through SRB (~T+2 minutes), core stage (T+8 minutes) and upper (Interim Cryogenic Propulsion) stage separation and TLI; Post-launch news conference with mission team scheduled for 04:00 16 Nov

Pictured: (Clockwise) NASA Administrator Bill Nelson, Artemis Mission Manager Michael Sarafin, JSC Flight Director Emily Nelson, Orion Program Manager Howard Hu, SLS Program Manager John Honeycutt, Exploration Ground Systems Program Manager Mike Bolger; Credits: NASA, LinkedIn, ULA

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 7-10 Jan 2022

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New Zealand May Lead Artemis Moon Fleet with Orbital Wayfinder CAPSTONE Cubesat in March

Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment now scheduled to be first probe in USA-led Artemis Return to Moon; Launching to Earth orbit on Electron from Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1 located on Māhia NZ (39.2°S, 177.8°E) NET March under US$9.95M NASA contract; 12U, 25-kg cubesat will be delivered to TLI via Photon Kick Stage after 9-day elliptical orbit raising; 1600 x 70000 km polar near rectilinear halo orbit around Moon may provide optimal trajectory with minimal corrections (under 10 m/s ∆v) achievable with Maxar solar / electric propulsion element for Gateway (NET 2024)

Credits: Rocket Lab, Maxar

Friday / 17 July 2020

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NASA JPL Miniaturized Payload Concept Contest Advances Lunar Exploration Technology

Lunar Surface Innovation Initiative Awards US$160K Through ‘Honey I Shrunk The Payload’ Competition; Design Parameters Constrain Surface Probes To Mass Of 0.4kg, Physical Dimensions Of 100mm x 100mm x 50mm; 14 International Teams And Individuals Selected From 132 Entries; Team Sun Slicers Led By Phil Jobson Takes Lunar Environment Category 1st Place ($30K) For XRAY Spectrometer, Puli Space Technologies Led By (L-R) David Lucsanyi And Tibor Pacher Wins 1st In Resource Potential Category For Lunar Water Snooper ($30K); Crowdsourcing Platform HeroX, Created By Peter Diamandis, Utilized Throughout Contest

Credits: NASA, Puli Space Technologies, Team Sun Slicers, HeroX, Team Stardust, Monash Nova Rover Team

Wednesday / 2 May 2018

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 LunarCubes Workshop Focuses On EM-1 ‘Lucky 13’, Awarded SmallSat Studies, Interactive Design Challenges

7th Annual LunarCubes Workshop 3-4 May In San Luis Obispo CA With 4 Major Design Challenges Include Effective Data Management, Lunar Transportation, CubeSat Paradigm Development Models, Beyond LEO Platform Concepts; Anticipates 30-40 Participants, 8 Presentations Covering Deep Space Concepts PRISM, PROVE, BOLAS, Other Missions From 19 Awarded Studies; NASA JPL CubeSat Development Lab Director Pamela Clark Is Technical Program Chair; 1st CubeSats To Deep Space (MarCO) Set To Launch 5 May To Mars, SLS EM-1 Dec 2019 To Moon Will Carry 13 CubeSats

Credits: NASA, CubeSat

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 24-27 June 2016

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Lunar CubeSats Queuing Up For Unique Boost Toward Moon

LED-6-24-16

13 CubeSats Hitching Ride To Translunar Space Aboard SLS EM-1 Test Flight 2018; Each No More Than 6 Units, 14 Kg; 10 Payloads Already Confirmed; 7 Selected By NASA Through NextSTEP (SkyFire, Lunar IceCube), Human Exploration & Ops Mission Directorate (NEA Scout, BioSentinel, Lunar Flashlight) And Science Mission Directorate (CuSP, LunaH-Map); 3 International; 3 TBD Pending Outcome Of CubeQuest Challenge; SLS Will Release Primary Payload Orion On Lunar Trajectory, Then 13 CubeSats To Deploy From Stage Adapter

Credit: NASA, Morehead State University

Thursday / 2 June 2016

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3 International Lunar CubeSats To Join Orion/SLS On Cislunar Journey

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Exploration Mission 1 (EM-1) First Test Flight Of New Space Launch System With Uncrewed Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle On 21-Day Circumlunar Trajectory NLT Nov 2018; Will Also Carry And Deploy 10 Other CubeSat Missions; Latest Announcement Introduces JAXA EQUULEUS (EQUilibriUm Lunar-Earth point 6U Spacecraft) And OMOTENASHI (Outstanding MOon exploration TEchnologies demonstrated by NAno Semi-Hard Impactor), As Well As ASI / Agrotec ArgoMoon

Credit: NASA, JAXA, AIS / Argotec

Friday / 11 March 2016

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Teams Developing LunarCubes, Interplanetary CubeSats & SLS Moon Sat Missions

LunarCubes2016

Advancing Low-Cost, High-Return CubeSat Technologies Highlighted In Upcoming Events: Flexure Engineering 6th International Workshop On LunarCubes 28-29 Sep In Conjunction With 6th International Workshop On Lunar Surface Applications, CubeSat Developer’s Workshop 20-22 Apr, 5th Interplanetary CubeSat Workshop 24-25 May; SLS To Carry At Least 4 Lunar CubeSats In 2018 – Winner Of NASA ‘Cube Quest Challenge’ Will Be Announced End Of Mar & Join EM-1 Lunar Flyby Mission

Credit: Flexure Engineering, NASA, Morehead State University

Friday / 9 October 2015

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LunarCubes: Secondary Payloads Aiming To Produce First-Class Science

LunarCubes

5th LunarCubes Workshop Hosted By Flexure Engineering 6-9 Oct Highlights Affordable, Innovative Options For Moon / Interplanetary Missions To Search For Volatiles, Map Surface, Support Human Exploration; Along With 8 Design Challenges, Various Talks Are Given On Missions Under Development By Private & Public Sectors: LunaH-Map (Craig Hardgrove, ASU), HALO (Michael Collier, NASA), Lunar Flashlight (John Baker, JPL), ILO-X & ILO-1 (Steve Durst, ILOA), FireFly (Dan Faber, DSI); Hack The Moon Event & Lunar Art / Flash Art Competition Being Held 9-11 Oct

Credit: Flexure Engineering, ASU, NASA, GSFC, JPL, Caltech

Wednesday / 7 October 2015

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5th International LunarCubes Workshop Brings Scientists, Engineers, Enterprise To San Jose 6-9 Oct

1072015Robust Lunar Enterprise Workshop Over 4 Days  Focusing On Space Exploration, Collaboration, Technology & Commercial Strategies; NASA Ames Research Center Manager Jim Cockrell (R) Highlights First In-Space Cube Quest Challenge (US$5.5M Prize) To Develop Small Moon Orbiters & Deep Space Satellites; Steve Durst (BL) Discussing ‘Astronomy From The Moon’ As A New Frontier With The International Lunar Observatory (ILO-1); Interorbital Systems Randa Milliron (TL) Will Talk About IOS Neptune Modular Rockets; Annual LunarCubes Workshop Provides Hands-On Activities & Educational Sessions To Further Moon & Space Exploration

Credit: LCW5, ILOA, NASA, Jim Cockrell, IOS, Randa Milliron