Category Archives: Advanced Technology

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 26-29 Apr 2024

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Japan SLIM Moon Lander Defies Expectations by Operating on 4th Lunar Day

JAXA controllers maintaining delicate balance on operational period which began 23 April, timing command / transmission with day-long interval to avoid overheating amid temperatures exceeding 100°C; Reactivation following 3rd lunar night (with temps near -170°C) was earlier in lunar day than previous cycles, resulting in brightest landscape / shortest shadows imaged during mission thus far; Near-equatorial location (13.3160°S, 25.2510°E) of SLIM lander mitigates temperature flux in comparison to near-polar site of Intuitive Machines Odysseus, which functioned 1 lunar day; Both Odysseus and SLIM contain lithium-ion batteries, however SLIM utilizes bespoke pouch cells, whereas Odysseus has COTS cells

 
Credits: JAXA

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 19-22 Apr 2024

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Africa Partnership Increasingly Sought by Space Powers USA and China

Space diplomacy in Africa is on the rise, according to London School of Economics analyst, evidenced by strong representation from both USA / NASA and China PRC / CNSA at NewSpace Africa Conference 2024; Angola, Nigeria, Rwanda are signatories to USA-led Artemis Accords, while Egypt and South Africa are participants of International Lunar Research Station, led by China and Russia; 270+ space companies in Africa projected to generate $22.64B by 2026; Africa resources such as cobalt, copper, chromium are essential for building space / lunar technology including craft & communications devices, and untapped reserves of rare earth elements (REE) have potential to disrupt current market in which China produces 70% of global supply

 
Picutred: Tidiane Ouattara Head of the Science, Technology and Space Division at African Union
Credits: NASA, African Union
 

Wednesday / 3 April 2024

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China NewSpace Company Space Pioneer Prepares for Inaugural Launch of Reusable Tianlong-3

Space Pioneer (Beijing Tianbing Technology) working to complete build of first Tianlong-3 at factory in Suzhou following successful hot firing of all 9 first stage TH-12 engines powered by RP-1 / liquid oxygen (kerolox) propellant, together producing 7.6 MN thrust, slightly greater than SpaceX Falcon 9 (7.56 MN); Shipping to Wenchang Commercial Space Launch Site expected NET late April / early May for NET July launch; Tianlong-3 planned to provide 30 per year launch cadence with up to 10x first stage reuse; While Space Pioneer has not announced lunar mission plans to date, capacity of Tianlong-3 should be suitable for realization of first China domestic NewSpace Moon mission

Pictured: Space Pioneer CEO Kang Yonglai; Credits: Space Pioneer

Friday / 29 March 2024

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SLIM Awakens for 3rd Lunar Day of Operations

JAXA team working at Sagamihara Campus SLIM control room are ebullient as their 2.4-m tall lunar lander reactivates yet again, enduring 2 cold nights on the Moon with temperatures below -130°C at mid-latitude landing site (-13.3160°, 25.2510°); Landscape imagery being taken via navigation camera currently amid high temperatures near 100°C with Sun relatively high overhead (necessary to power solar panels in off-nominal orientation); JAXA reports systems are mostly functioning aside from some temperature sensors and battery cells; Lunar day ends for SLIM on 30 March; SLIM team to present at Tanegashima Space Center open house 21 April

Credits: JAXA

Friday / 15 March 2024

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ispace of Japan Preparing Next Moon Missions with International Partnerships, MSP Landing Sites

Hakuto-R Mission 2 on track for Q4 2024 launch of Resilience lander to undeclared location on Moon (ispace has conducted site characterization near Amundsen Crater [82.04°S, 66.36°E], ~220 km NE of Malapert Massif, a noteworthy MSP destination) carrying 5 commercial payloads including Gundam-inspired ‘Charter of the Universal Century’ and ~5kg micro-rover with 26×31.5x54cm dimensions, built by Luxembourg subsidiary; ispace working with global companies including Control Data Systems (Romania) on UWB position measurement, mu Space (Thailand) on cislunar satellite construction, and Rhea Space Activity (USA) on navigation device; Mission 3 being developed by ispace USA in conjunction with Draper Labs, General Atomics, Karman Space & Defense under US$73M CLPS contract launching to Schrödinger Basin NET 2026

Credits: ispace

Tuesday / 12 March 2024

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Lunar Communication Infrastructure Being Prepared for Implementation by Space Agencies and Industry

Lunar LTE Studies initiative LunarLiTES enhancing Multiple Access Testbed for Research in Innovative Communications Systems (MATRICS) emulator at NASA Glenn Research Center with 4G / 5G wireless capabilities ahead of pioneering mission to demonstrate Moon-based communication on the lunar surface between Lunar Outpost Mobile Autonomous Prospecting Platform (MAPP) rover and lander via Nokia Bell Labs instruments during IM-2 NET late 2024; Lunar Pathfinder relay built by Surrey Satellite Technology to follow NET 2026 on Firefly Blue Ghost Mission 2; CNSA Queqiao-2 relay at Wenchang SLC for launch this month

Credits: NASA GSFC

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 1-4 March 2024

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Astronomy from the Moon and Earth Advancing with Near and Far Term Proposals / Missions

Numerous astronomy payloads are manifested on upcoming Moon landings including L-CAM (AstronetX) on ispace Mission 3 NET 2025 and LuSEE-Night (DOE) NET 2026 on Firefly Blue Ghost Mission 2 while more ambitious proposals compiled by Business Insider include the triangular Laser Interferometer Lunar Antenna (Vanderbilt University) for gravitational wave detection; Pantheon Habitat Made from Regolith, With A Focusing Solar Reflector (University of Arizona), a US$10B, 18 optical / IR telescope array with integrated living and farming space; 100,000-antenna FarView (Lunar Resources); Next generation terrestrial observatory to be supported by $1.6B NSF funding: either 25.4-m Giant Magellan Telescope on Cerro Las Campanas, Chile or Thirty Meter Telescope on Maunakea, Hawai’i

Credits: TIO, Firefly

Tuesday / 6 Feb 2024

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Japan Pioneers Lunar Broadcasting with First Amateur Radio Station on Moon

JAXA Ham Radio Club (call sign JQ1ZVI) has established radio communication in 437.41 MHz frequency with 1 W UHF transmitter weighing just 90 g aboard Lunar Excursion Vehicle (LEV-1) hopper (2.2 kg total mass), deployed from JAXA SLIM lander during 19 Jan UTC (20 Jan JST) landing descent; Signal containing Morse Code received by operators around Earth from a distance of ~380,000 km, including C.A. Muller Radio Astronomy Station utilizing 25 m radio telescope at Dwingeloo NL; SLIM is currently dormant as lunar night transpires but JAXA operators will attempt reactivation upon lunar daybreak in mid-Feb

Credits: JAXA, Bard

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 15-18 Dec 2023

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Laser Communications Experiments Validating Technology for Space and Moon

Seeking to advance in-space communication beyond cost, security and bandwidth limitations of RF and building on Lunar Laser Communications Demonstration (LLCD, 2013-14), NASA now operating first 2-way laser relay link from Laser Communications Relay Demonstration (LCRD) orbital craft to Integrated LCRD Low Earth Orbit User Modem and Amplifier Terminal (ILLUMA-T) mounted on exposed facility of ISS Japanese Kibō module at 1.2 Gbps data rate, ~7x the average USA internet speed; Deep Space Optical Communications technology demonstration (DSOC) recently validated very deep space laser comms, sending data from JPL Psyche 16,000,000 km (~41x Earth-Moon distance) to Palomar Observatory

Credits: NASA / Dave Ryan

Friday / 3 Nov 2023

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Qosmosys Joins Commercial Lunar Lander Market Backed by US$100M Funding Round

Headquartered in Singapore with operations in Toulouse and Houston, lunar / space startup Qosmosys is led by Francois Dubrulle with threefold focus on robotics, transportation, and science enabling space exploration to Moon and beyond, a “shared responsibility of all nations and individuals” as articulated in detailed manifesto featuring wisdom of Carl Sagan, Arthur Clarke, Konstantin Tsiolkovsky; 8-m tall / 4.2-m diameter ZeusX flagship spacecraft being developed through Airbus and New Frontier Aerospace collaborations and will consist of service module, lander, rover – featuring payload capacity of 500kg to lunar orbit, 800kg to surface; Inaugural launch NET 2027

Credits: Qosmosys, Twitter / @FrancoisDubrull