Category Archives: Water on Moon

Tuesday / 19 March 2024

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Hopping Lunar Rovers Planned for USA, China and Europe Surface Missions

Unconventional mobility technology that achieve locomotion with bouncing maneuvers / thrusters rather than wheels is headed for the Moon; Intuitive Machines Micro-Nova (29 kg wet) developed with ASU under $41.6M NASA contract to investigate PSR within Marston crater using Canadensys 39°x51 and 186° FoV imagers following deployment from IM-2 Shackleton – de Gerlache connecting ridge landing site (89.5°S, 222.0°E) NET Q4 2024; CNSA Chang’E-7 mini-flying probe to carry Lunar Water Molecular Analyzer into PSR near Shackleton crater rim NET 5 March 2026; ESA-funded 10-kg hopper being developed by Astronika of Poland utilizes parkour-like flipping maneuver to traverse 3-9 meters vertically on Moon whereas IM and CNSA probes to be propelled via thrusters

Credits: Astronika / Space Research Centre of Polish Academy of Sciences, Intuitive Machines, CNSA via Inside Outer Space screengrab

Tuesday / 12 Dec 2023

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ispace and Orbit Fab Partnering on Moon Fuel Extraction and Transport

While working towards HAKUTO-R mission 2 NET 2024 and design of APEX 1.0 with Draper for CLPS CP-12 NET 2026, ispace looking to foster long-term lunar commercial development, signing MoU with Orbit Fab of Lafayette CO on in-space propellant mining / transfer technology maturation with “a series of innovative demonstrations, including resource mapping and ISRU” to be performed; Orbit Fab hopes to grow market for its Rapidly Attachable Fluid Transfer Interface (RAFTI) standard and is preparing to demonstrate 50-kg hydrazine refueling of USSF Tetra-5 utilizing Impulse Space depot Mira NET 2025

Credits: ispace, Orbit Fab

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 25-28 August 2023

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India Exploring Area Near Moon South Pole with Chandrayaan-3

ISRO now conducting the farthest expedition into the lunar south ever, with landing site 69.374454°S, 32.318695°E ~625km from the southernmost point on the Moon (90°S on Shackleton crater rim); Lander Module Vikram and Pragyan rover operating nominally with ILSA, RAMBHA and ChaSTE instruments activated and ready to take seismic, ionic and thermal readings; APXS and LIBS will perform X-ray and laser spectroscopy to determine chemical, mineralogical and elemental composition of regolith from Pragyan, now rolled out and >8 meters from LM

Tuesday / 22 Aug 2023

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ISRO Making Final Checks While Awaiting Lunar Daybreak at Chandrayaan-3 Landing Site

Chandryaan-3 Vikram lunar lander in elliptical 25 x 134 km lunar orbit as ISRO operators at Mission Operations Complex in Bengaluru ensuring craft readiness ahead of powered descent to Moon surface ~20° from MSP set to begin 23 Aug 12:15 UTC, with touchdown on lunar surface now scheduled ~19 minutes later at 12:34 UTC; Landing to be supported by NASA and ESA Deep Space Network antennas in Canberra and Madrid with backup relay via Chandrayaan-2 orbiter; ISRO encourages schools to observe historic moment which will ‘fuel curiosity’ and ‘spark passion for exploration’; Live coverage starts 11:50 UTC

Tuesday / 15 Aug 2023

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India and Russia Reaching Final Stretch Before Landings in South Polar Region

ISRO Chandrayaan-3 now in 150 x 177 km orbit around Moon with next orbital reduction / circularization maneuver planned to retrofire on 16 Aug at ~08:30 IST ahead of expected 23 Aug 12:17 UTC landing at South Polar Region (69.368°S, 32.348°E) roughly 120 km west of Roscosmos Luna-25 prime landing site at 69.545°S, 43.544°E; Luna-25 operating nominally with stable comms and power following 13 Aug instrument / telemetry check and Earth / Moon imaging, activation of ADRON-LR cosmic radiation detector and final orbit correction maneuver 14 Aug; LOI to occur 16 Aug, while landing may happen on 21 Aug

Thursday / 8 June 2023

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Planetary Scientist to Delve into Expected Artemis 3 Moon South Pole Conditions

Lunar and Planetary Institute (LPI) Principal Scientist David Kring presenting What Might Artemis Astronauts Encounter at the Lunar South Pole?, an installment of LPI Cosmic Explorations Speaker Series, in hybrid online / in-person format today from Houston TX at 19:30 CDT; Low sun angle and jagged landscape may present unique challenges (visibility, traverse) and opportunities (PSRs, possibility of collecting 4.3 billion+ year old pre-Nectarian material) for 2-member Artemis 3 crew, now likely launching to MSP NET 2026 per NASA Exploration Systems Administrator Jim Free; Event will be live-streamed

Credits: LPI, NASA, KARI

Tuesday / 4 April 2023

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2-Day Online Lunar Surface Science Workshop First Steps in a Bold New Era of Human Discovery to Consider Candidate Artemis III Landing Sites

Organized by (L-R) JSC planetary scientist Samuel Lawrence and Artemis 3 project scientist Noah Petro of GSFC, supported by LPI & USRA, LSSW 19 to showcase latest research into scientific viability of 13 prospective Artemis III landing sites within 6° of MSP; Comments to be given by NASA SMD Deputy Associate Administrator Sandra Connelly, SpaceX Director of Crew Starship engineering Eduardo Velazquez, Apollo 17 Astronaut Harrison Schmitt on 4 April; Sessions devoted to Malapert, DeGerlache, Haworth and DeGerlache-Kocher Massif, Faustini and Shackleton regions to be held 5 April

Credits: NASA, LinkedIn

Friday / 17 Feb 2023

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Mountain at Moon South Pole Named in Honor of NASA Apollo-era Mathematician Melba Roy Mouton

The 6,096-m high mountain on the western rim of Nobile Crater (~85.4°S, 37.5°E) is now officially known as Mons Mouton after NASA Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover (VIPER) team nomination to IAU Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature; Situated just a few km east of Leibnitz Beta Plateau, Mons Mouton is to be the site of the 100-day VIPER mission to be delivered via Astrobotic Griffin lander NET Nov 2024; Mons Mouton is also 1 of 13 sites selected by NASA fo Artemis 3 human landings NET 2025

Pictured: Melba Roy Mouton, WGPSN Organizing Committee members Rita Schulz, Debra Elmegreen, José Espinosa; Credits: IAU, NASA

Tuesday / 1 Nov 2022

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Lunar Flashlight to Prospect for Water on Moon, Launch with ispace Mission-1 NET 22 November

Utilizing 4 shortwave IR lasers (1.064, 1.495, 1.85, 1.99 μm) and indium gallium arsenide spectrometer, 6U / 14kg Lunar Flashlight 2-month nominal cubesat mission led by PI Barbara Cohen of NASA GSFC to search for water ice hidden within permanently shadowed regions on Moon from 15 x 70,000 km elliptical near-rectilinear polar orbit with ~6 day period; Lunar Flashlight now launching with Hakuto-R M1, which has arrived at KSC for launch on SpaceX F9 NET 22 Nov carrying UAE Rashid rover, Canadensys-built 360° cameras, JAXA spheroid robot

Credits: NASA, ispace, Wikipedia

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 7-10 Oct 2022

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Stalwart Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Continues to Contribute to Cutting Edge Moon Science and Exploration

Team led by Vishnu Viswanathan of NASA Goddard Space Flight Center manipulate LOLA data to determine effect of asteroid impacts that created 5,200 Moon craters 20–1,200m in diameter over 4.25B years on True Polar Wander; Modeling suggests 10° / 300km variance, with implications for polar water ice location; LRO also actively in use for commercial exportation initiatives – in calibration testing of Intuitive Machines Lunar Telemetry and Tracking Network, set to support IM-1 mission NET Q1 2023 and in upcoming test of Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System on CAPSTONE

Credits: NASA, Advanced Space