Author Archives: LED Editor

Tuesday / 3 November 2015

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GLXP Teams Gear Up For 2017 Moon Missions:
Six Leading The Competition

11032015Efforts To Kick-Start Commercial Lunar Enterprise Advancing With Verified Launch Contracts, Ride Shares & GLXP Competition Extension; SpaceIL Preparing For SpaceX Launch Mid 2017, Craft To Solar Recharge Batteries Before 500m Race; Astrobotic Offering Ride Share Low-Cost Lunar Delivery Service With CEO Stating Team Will Be “The DHL To The Moon”; Teams Hakuto & AngelicvM Aboard With Astrobotic; Hakuto Additional Goal Will Be The Use Of Second Rover To Explore Caves For Potential Future Human Habitats; Moon Express Aiming For 2017 Launch With Rocket Lab; Part-Time Scientists Developing Space-Grade Parts Via 3D Printing

Credit: GLXP, Astrobotic, Hakuto, SpaceIL, Moon Express, Part-Time Scientists, AngelicvM

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 30 Oct – 2 Nov 2015

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Prolific Accumulation Of LRO Data To Aid Science, Enhance Culture & Guide Future Exploration

LED-10-30-15

LRO In Elliptical Orbit Flying Just 20km Above South Pole, Area Of Very High Interest; Immense Data Resources Include Satellite Tool Kit Real-Time Visualization Display System, ACT-React QuickMap, CRaTER Live Sonification Design Project; Solar Powered Spacecraft Preparing For Next Eclipse 23 Mar 2016, After Successfully Navigating 3 Over Last 1.5 Years; Deputy Project Scientist Noah Petro Describes Eclipse Challenges: Loss Of Photo-Voltaic Power Generation, Temperature Drop Of Nearly 138°C In Only Minutes

Credit: NASA / GSFC

Friday / 30 October 2015

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China Planning Chang’e-5 Lunar Sample Return & 1st Ever Landing On Far Side With Chang’e-4

Chang'e Program

Chang’e-5 Being Developed For 2017 Mission While 5-T1 Test Service Module Remains In Lunar Orbit Gathering Data On Landing Sites & Rendezvous Procedures; Chang’e-4 Lander & Rover With Numerous Advanced Instruments To Launch Before 2020 To Far Side, With Relay Orbiter Launched ~2018 To L2; Chang’e-3 At 44.12°N 19.51°W In Lunar Day 24 Successfully Operating 1st Robotic Telescope On Moon; Zou Yongliao From Chinese Academy Of Sciences States “If We Can Place A Frequency Spectrograph On The Far Side, We Can Fill A Void [In Astronomy With Chang’e-4]”

Credit: Xinhua, CNSA, CSA, CCTV, China Space Website

Thursday / 29 October 2015

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Russia Focused On Luna-2015 Simulation & Proclaims Humans To Moon 2029

10292015RSC Energia Head Vladimir Solntsev (TL) Reveals Human “Lunar Landing Is Planned For 2029”; Spacecraft For Mission Currently Being Built In Moscow With Inaugural Flight Aiming For 2021, ISS Space Dock 2023, Un-Crewed Moon Mission 2025, Astronauts To Moon 2029; Luna-2015 Female-Only Crew Simulations Commence, Gathering Data With “Over 30 Experiments” As Stated By Crew Member Daria Komissarova (LC); Experiment Taking Place At Moscow Institute Of Medical-Biological Problems; Potential Collaboration Efforts Also Underway With ESA For Moon Settlement & Joint Lunar Station Prospectively With China

Credit: ESA, IMBP, RSC Energia

Wednesday / 28 October 2015

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AngelicvM Joins GLXP Collaboration With Astrobotic & Hakuto

10282015Team Astrobotic To Carry Chile Team AngelicvM 5kg Rover ‘Uni’ On Mission To Moon; Japan Team Hakuto Also Sharing Cost Of Mission & Potential Prize; Astrobotic To Deploy Uni, 2 Hakuto Rovers & Its Own Andy Rover To Travel 500 Meters On Lunar Surface; Astrobotic CEO John Thornton States “Team AngelicvM Shares Our Vision Of Uniting And Inspiring Individuals To Look To The Moon As The Next Great Destination For Exploration And Discovery”; Astrobotic Goal To Fill Payload Space On Lander By Early 2016 With Inclusion Of Lunar Mission One, Mexican Space Agency & 1 Possible Other GLXP Team; Launch Proposed With SpaceX Falcon 9 Rocket NET 2017

Credit: GLXP, Astrobotic, Hakuto, Tohoku University Research News of Engineering, Angelicvm

Tuesday / 27 October 2015

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USGS Lunar Maps Using LRO Reveal Data ‘Contrary To Conventional Wisdom’

10272015Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) Providing Mosiac Map With Data From Wide Angle Camera & Topographic Data With Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter (LOLA); Dr. Mark Robinson, ASU Professor & LRO Camera PI States “Images From The LRO Camera Have Greatly Advanced Our Knowledge Of The Moon” & Images Reveal Volcanic Activity Younger Than Previously Thought; LOLA Gathering Topographic Data; Co-Investigator Dr. Erwan Mazarico Comments “The LOLA Data Are A Foundational Dataset To Be Used In Multiple Types Of Studies For Years To Come”; Maps Indicate Elevation Areas – Highest Point Near Engel’gradt Crater (200° E Longitude, +6° Latitude) & Lowest Area Within Moon South Pole-Aitken Basin Near 188° E Longitude, -70° Latitude

Credit: USGS/NASA/ASU

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 23-26 October 2015

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Stanford On The Moon (SOM)
Launching The Next 50 – 75 Years

10242015Stanford University President John Hennessy (TL) Commends SOM At Reunion Weekend “It’s A Good Project, Keep It Up”; SOM Advisory Committee Consists Of 12 Alum: Founder Steve Durst 1965, Lois Driggs Aldrin 1951, Bruce Lusignan 1958, Jim McCotter 1965, Loretta Hidalgo Whitesides 1996, Grant Anderson 1985, Henning Roedel 2011, Jim Michaelis 1960, John Kleeman 1969, Alicia Kavelaars 2002, William Brown 1965 & Professor Sigrid Close; Committee Drawn To Critical Thinking To Address The Need To Explore New Horizons Vital To The Future Of Humanity; SOM Launching For The Next 50-75 Year Trajectory, Planning For Stanford Center On The Moon Before 2091 University Bicentennial

Credit: SOM, NASA, Space Age Publishing Company

Friday / 23 October 2015

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Stanford On The Moon 2015:
Sustaining And Realizing The Vision

SOM 2015

Stanford On The Moon Conference Being Held 23 Oct 15:00-17:00 At Stanford Campus Bld 260, Rm 113 In Conjunction With 2015 Stanford Homecoming Reunion; Will Feature Presentation By (Pictured L-R) SOM Founder Steve Durst & Stanford Director Of Development (Humanities & Sciences) Denise Ellestad On SOM Endowment Fund, Sasha Maldonado From Stanford Student Space Initiative, Jim Keravala From Shackleton Energy Co. On Lunar Property Rights: Who Owns The Moon?; And Introduction Of SOM Advisory Committee Members

Credit: SOM, ILOA, SSSI/S. Maldonado, D. Ellestad, Shackleton

Thursday / 22 October 2015

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Russia-Europe To Collaborate On Human Lunar Settlement At Late 2016 Meetings

10222015Moscow Space Research Institute Prof Igor Mitrofanov (TL) Asserts “We Have To Go To The Moon” Due To Commercial, Astronomical Observation & Utilization Of Lunar Resource Benefits; Meeting Of Ministers To Decide Europe Participation Late 2016; Russia Vostochny Cosmodrome For Lunar, Planetary, Human Missions Described As “Biggest & Most Ambitious Projects” By Pres Putin (TR); ESA Lunar Exploration Head, Bérengère Houdou (BL) States “Ambition To Have European Astronauts On The Moon” & Lead Scientist Dr. James Carpenter (BR) Notes Moon South Pole Unique Characteristics Includes Possible Water Ice For “Use As Rocket Fuel; Luna-25 Luna-Glob Lander Expected 2018 & Luna-Resurs 1 Lander Expected 2020

Credit: ESA, EPA/ Alexei Nikolsky, University of Bristol, IKI

Wednesday / 21 October 2015

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President Obama Inspiring Youth To ‘Ask About The Stars’ At White House Astronomy Night

10212015Private-Sector “Educate To Innovate” (ETI) Campaign Announced By Pres. Obama Stating “We Need To Inspire More Young People To Ask About The Stars And Begin That Lifetime Quest To Become The Next Great Scientist, Or Inventor, Or Engineer, Or Astronaut”; Astronomy Night Featuring Moon, Mars Meteorite Rock Samples & New York 12th-Grader Alvarez-Bareiro Inviting President To Examine The Moon; President Outlined Priorities: Journey To Mars, Space Technology, Earth Science & Climate, ISS, Commercial Space; ETI Focus In STEM To Prepare 100k Teachers By 2021 & Other Projects To Work With 30+ States To Support ~500k Students Grades 4-8; Hawaii World Class Observatories Goal Of Inspiring A Passion For Astronomy Offering Free Tours To Students 16 Years Old As Early As November 2015

Credit: NASA, Case.edu