Author Archives: LED Editor

Tuesday / 25 January 2022

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Hawai’i Planetary Scientists & Engineers Work to Characterize Lunar Moisture, Develop Basalt ISRU Building Technique

In Situ Detection of Water on the Moon by the Chang’e-5 Lander, a collaborative research effort between Shuai Li of University of Hawaii Mānoa and Honglei Lin, Rui Xu of Chinese Academy of Sciences details Lunar Mineralogical Spectrometer data taken from ~1.4 m elevation at Chang’e-5 landing site (43.06°N, 51.92°W), finding <120 ppm water content in regolith; PISCES advancing basalt sintering process under NASA STTR phase 1 funding co-awarded with Masten, may build prototype extruder under phase 2 with goal of ISRU on Moon

 

Credits: ESA, UH, CAS, PISCES

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 21-24 Jan 2022

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Lunar Resources Inc to Develop and Construct Flight-ready Lunar Resource Extraction Reactor NLT 2024

Houston, TX-based Lunar Resources Inc receives 9th SBIR award (US$1M), bringing total NSF-supported funding to $3M+ for space initiatives including ISRU on Moon; Reactor for resource extraction is to utilize 1,600°C Molten Regolith Electrolysis process to separate metals (Al, Fe, Mg, Si) and oxygen, main constituents of lunar regolith; Habitat construction, oxygen for breathing / propulsion, and power generation via silicon photovoltaic cells are use cases for ISRU; CEO Elliot Carol tells Ars Technica, “Resource extraction is necessary for the United States to create a permanent presence on the Moon”

Credits: Lunar Resources, NASA, Paul Spudis

Friday / 21 January 2022

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USSF Eyes Cislunar Space — Moon Usage May Follow 7th Continent Antarctica

Air Force Magazine reports USSF Chief of Space Operations John Raymond (T) references need for “safe, secure, stable” cislunar space at Center for Strategic and International Studies online meeting; Military leader urges USA “compete in all areas of the domain, not just in LEO, MEO, GEO” with China; Outer Space Institute co-founders Aaron Boley (L), Michael Byers (R) writing in Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists counter that Air Force Research Laboratory’s Cislunar Highway Patrol System and Defense Deep Space Sentinel may contravene Outer Space Treaty Article IV, similar to Antarctic Treaty limiting exploration to peaceful means

Credits: NASA, Advanced Space, AFRL, OSI

Tuesday / 18 January 2022

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Artemis Era Will Require Larger & More Diverse Astronaut Corps, Training Updates, Lunar Architecture

NASA Office of Inspector General report warns of dearth of flight-ready Astronauts (44 in 2021 vs nearly 150 in 2000) and calls for new protocols on “minimum manifest requirement” corps size safety margin (15% currently vs 50% shuttle era), recruitment, training, assignment; OIG suggests information gathering on Astronaut skillsets and demographics to meet Artemis mission diversity objectives of First Woman and Person of Color landing on Moon during Artemis III Mission NET 2025; LSSW workshop on Inclusive Lunar Exploration 26-27 Jan; Artemis structural requirements to be topic at Moon Village Association Architectural Concepts & Considerations Working Group meeting 25-27 Jan

Credits: NASA, MVA

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 14-17 Jan 2022

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SLS ‘Mega Moon Rocket’ with Integrated Orion Spacecraft Prepares for Rollout / Wet Dress Rehearsal

Simulated countdown sequencing software / hardware test is last step before highly anticipated (12th year of $23B+ program) rollout of USA flagship Space Launch System from KSC Vehicle Assembly Building to historic Launch Pad 39B, as problematic RS-25 engine controller replaced and checked; Fueled dress rehearsal set to occur NET mid-Feb followed by hot fire and inaugural Artemis 1 uncrewed lunar flyby NET March; Elements of Artemis 2-4 crafts currently being manufactured with ULA Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage (Decatur AL) and Aerojet Rocketdyne RS-25 engines (New Orleans LA) being readied for KSC shipment

Credits: NASA

Friday / 14 January 2022

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Intuitive Machines and Partners Build Commercial Communications Network Ahead of 3 Moon Missions

Lunar Telemetry and Tracking Network (LTN) commercial cislunar communications system first tested with Goonhilly Earth Station (UK) GHY-6 deep space antenna / ESA INTEGRAL gamma ray space observatory, now validated with Live Sky test utilizing Morehead State University 21-m Space Tracking Antenna / NASA LRO feeding data to Houston-based Nova Control; CSIRO Parkes 64-m Radio Telescope (Australia) is largest receiver in LTN; Network communications hardware and software provided by Clear-Com of Alameda CA; IM-1 / IM-2 launching 2022, IM-3 in 2023

Credits: Intuitive Machines, NASA, MSU

Tuesday / 11 January 2022

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Russia Holding Firm on July 2022 Launch of Luna-25, Possible World’s First Soft Landing In MSP Region

In a country noted for scientific achievement, Russian Academy of Sciences President Alexander Sergeyev heralds Luna-25 as “main scientific event of 2022” for nation; The long-awaited mission features a 1,750kg Luna-Glob craft with 30kg payload capacity for 9 science experiments probing exosphere plasma/dust, regolith, and imaging local environment to be launched from Vostochny spaceport via Soyuz-2.1b with Fregat upper stage; Landing site near Boguslavsky crater at 69.55°S, 43.54°E would be southernmost lunar soft landing in history (currently held by Chang’e-4 at 45.5°S, 177.6°E)

Credits: Roscosmos, NASA, Kremlin

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 / 7 January 2022

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MIT Researchers Investigating Electrostatic / Ion Propulsion Concept for Moon and Asteroid Exploration

With current propulsion technologies capable of operation in atmosphere-free environments limited to chemical rockets and ground-based locomotion, MIT supported by NASA is pioneering novel technique harnessing electrical charge found on such bodies via repulsive effect of Mylar; Initial experiments published in AIAA Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets suggest with micro ion booster augmentation sufficient lift to raise a 0.9kg craft 1cm can be achieved; Levitation technique would allow traversing otherwise impassable “very rough, unexplored terrain” per study co-author Paulo Lozano (B)

Also pictured: Oliver Jia-Richards (T); Credits: MIT

Tuesday / 4 January 2022

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Land of the Rising Moon:
Japan Plans Human Lunar Landing as Early as 2026, Two 2022 Robotic Landers

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announces hope for Japan to be 2nd nation (and 1st from Asia) to land Astronaut on Moon via Artemis missions 4-8 (2026-2029); Canada Astronaut to fly around Moon 2024 / Artemis 2, two USA selected to land 2025 / Artemis 3; JAXA Astronaut recruitment period open until 4 March; SLIM lander preparing for launch 2nd half 2022; ispace HAKUTO-R launch NET July with 2 rovers; Japan budgeting for Cislunar Gateway tech contributions, HTV-X cargo ships ~2026, human lunar surface rover ~2029

Credits: JAXA, ISAS, NASA, ispace