Friday / 2 July 2021

Galaxy Forum Bringing Space Education To Vi, Silicon Valley For July 4 Weekend

Artemis Moon Activity And Search For Extraterrestrial Intelligence Are Topics Of Galaxy Forum 2021 USA, Silicon Valley In-Person / Online Hybrid Event Streaming From Vi At Palo Alto, Adjacent To Stanford Campus; Presenters Include SETI Institute Co-Founder Jill Tarter (Searching For Aliens, Finding Ourselves), Berkeley SETI Research Center Director Andrew Siemion (SETI From The Moon), Paragon Space Development Corporation President Grant Anderson (Artemis / NASA Returns To The Moon), ILOA Director Steve Durst (Stanford On The Moon) And ILOA Board Member Joseph Sulla (ILOA 5 Moon Missions)

Credits: SETI Institute, BSRC, Paragon, ILOA, Space Age Publishing Company

Tuesday / 29 June 2021

Russia May Launch Human Missions To Moon, Tiangong Space Station From Guiana

General Director Dmitry Rogozin Indicates Roscosmos Space Agency In Talks With French Space Agency CNES To Renovate Guiana Space Centre In Support Of “Large Lunar Project” And “Launching [To] Chinese Station”; 41.5° Orbital Inclination Of Tiangong vs 51.6° Of ISS Makes Russia Spaceports At Baikonur (46°N) And Vostochny (52°N) Unappealing, As Additional Maneuvering Would Cost Precious ∆v; Launches From GSC At 5.2°N Would Be Appropriate Also For Lunar Missions; Irtysh / Soyuz-5 Rocket In Development To Power Oryol (Eagle) Deep Space Crew Vessel With 4-6 Cosmonaut Capacity

Credits: Roscosmos, CCTV, GSC

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 25-28 June 2021

Artemis 1 SLS Stack Grows As NASA Prepares Deep Space Test Dummies For Orion

Artemis 1 At KSC Ready For 18-m Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Upper Stage Next Week, Now Fitted With 9.1-m Launch Vehicle Stage Adapter Atop 65m Core, Itself Sitting Between 54-m Twin Solid Fuel Boosters; Orion Stage Adapter And Crew Module Mass Simulator To Follow In Stacking Sequence, Completed Total Height ~98m; Uncrewed Artemis 1 Launch Still Hoped For 2021, Acceleration And Kinetic Forces To Be Measured By Seated ‘Moonikin’, Radiation Exposure Tested With Torso ‘Phantoms’ Helga And Zohar, Equipped With 5,616 Dosimeters, Part of DLR / ISA Matroshka AstroRad Radiation Experiment

 

Credits: NASA

Friday / 25 June 2021

USA To Become 2nd Nation To Conduct Science On Moon Far Side Surface

First USA Attempt At Robotic Far Side Soft Landing Is Set To Be Conducted Via Commercial Lunar Payload Services Provider In 2024 As Part Of PRISM Series; Lunar Interior Temperature and Materials Suite (LITMS) Seeks Greater Understanding Of Lunar Maria, Source Of Volcanic Basalt Features Often Anthropomorphized In World Culture; LITMS PI Robert Grimm Of Southwest Research Institute Explains In Press Release That Heat Transfer / Electrical Conductivity Readings From 3m Depth Will Be Compared To Near-Side Apollo Missions To Unravel The Origin Of ‘The Man In The Moon’

Credits: NASA, SwRI, A Trip To The Moon, Lockheed Martin

Tuesday / 22 June 2021

Spacebit Offers Collaboration Opportunity On Lunar Rover Set For 2021/2022 CLPS Delivery

Partnering With Crowdsourcing Platform Wevolver, Spacebit Engineering Challenge Seeks Design Feedback On Next Iteration Of 1U CubeSat-Based, “Arachnid-Like”, 4-Legged Asagumo Rover; Major Contributors To Have Names Engraved On Rover; Scheduled To Launch On ULA Vulcan Centaur, Land Within Lacus Mortis On Astrobotic Peregrine 2021/2022; Asagumo To Traverse 10-m, Record HD Video, 3D Map Via LIDAR; Explore Potentially Habitable Lava Tubes In Future; Spacebit Also Has Wheeled Rover Booked On Intuitive Machines IM-1 And “Plans To Fly On Every NASA CLPS Delivery On The Market”

Credits: Spacebit, NASA

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 18-21 June 2021

Russia And China Solicit Global Partnership On International Lunar Research Station

Collaboration On Lunar Surface Missions 2021-25 Offered To World Space Community By ILRS Partners China And Russia, With Roscosmos Director General Dmitry Rogozin Telling State Media TASS “We Are Actively Negotiating With Many Participants”, Specifically ESA; ISRO Also Being Courted; Proposals Of Cooperation Opportunity Include Space Mission, Space System, Subsystem, Equipment, Ground & Application; Data Sharing / Analysis Available For CE-4, CE-6, Luna-25, Luna-27; Engineering And Mission Planning Coordination Possible For CE-7, CE-8, Luna-26, Luna-28; International / Independent Cooperation Could Accelerate Human Moon Landings This Decade

Credits: CNSA, Roscosmos

Thursday / 18 June 2021

China-Russia Joint Working Group Developing International Lunar Research Station Plan

Wu Yanhua Of CNSA And Sergey Saveliev Of Roscosmos Present Guide For Partnership v1.0 At GLEX 2021 In St Petersburg, Russia; 3 Development Phases (Reconnaissance, Construction, Utilization) Encompassing 5-Facility Station (Cis-Lunar Transportation In Space + Long-Term Support, Transport And Operation, Science, And Ground Support & Application On Surface), With 8 Science Objectives (Lunar Geology, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, ISRU, Astronomy / Earth Observation From Moon, Cis-Lunar Space); Limited Collaboration Opportunities For Chang’e 7-8 And Luna 25-28, With Broader Participation In ILRS Missions 1-5 Between 2031-35

Credits: CNSA, Roscosmos, SCIO

Wednesday / 16 June 2021

Malapert Mountain Likely To Be Among Key Loci Of International Lunar Community

Lunar Landing Sites Under Consideration At Global Space Exploration Conference 2021 In St Petersburg, Russia Include 5-km Peak Malapert Mountain (86°S, 0°); Possessing Numerous Attributes Conducive To Scientific Observation, Communication, IRSU, Habitation; Containing Areas Of Near (90%+) Continuous Illumination And Shadowed Cold-Traps Possibly Harboring Water Ice; Earth Line-Of-Sight From Peak Rarely Interrupted; Shielded Far Side Flank Appropriate For Radio Astronomy; As USA President Biden And Russia President Putin Meet Today In Geneva, And China-Russia International Research Station Is Presented, Malapert Could Be Focus Of Cooperation Between Space Powers

Credits: NASA, GSFC, Arizona State University

Tuesday / 15 June 2021

Russia Strives For Human Presence On Moon Surface, Jupiter Probe By 2030

Luna 25 Launch Set For 1 October, Marking Resumption Of Lunar Exploration Activities After 45+ Year Hiatus For Russia, First Nation To Robotically Explore Moon; Luna 25 To Attempt Landing At Boguslavsky Crater Near Moon South Pole (72.9°S, 43.2°E) To Investigate Subsurface Ice Deposits; Luna 26 (2024), Lunar 27 (2025), Luna 28 (2027) To Culminate With International Lunar Research Station Buildout With China & Human Lunar Missions By Decade End; Nuclear-Powered Zeus To Launch From Moon Orbit 2030, Exploit Venus Gravity-Assist On Jupiter Trajectory During 50-Month, US$58M Mission

Credits: Roscosmos, NASA, ISRO

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 11-14 June 2021

3 NASA Lunar Science Payloads Slated For 2024 Commercial Delivery To Moon

Payloads And Research Investigations On The Surface Of The Moon (PRISM) Selections Include 2 Far Side Deployments To Schrödinger Crater (75.0°S, 132.4°E): Farside Seismic Suite (FSS), Containing Very Broadband Seismometer And Short Period Sensor, Investigating Subsurface Structure / Tectonics Over Several Lunar Days / Nights With Internal Thermal Regulation; Lunar Interior Temperature And Materials Suite (LITMS) To Study Internal Heat Transfer; Nearside Payload Lunar Vertex Lander / Rover To Measure Lunar Swirl Reiner Gamma (7.5°N 59.0°W) Via Magnetometer; CLPS Transport Provider(s) TBD

Credits: NASA, PTScientists