Category Archives: Advanced Technology

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 8-11 Jan 2021

Posted on by

USA Commercial Enterprises Vie For Human Moon Landing System For Artemis 3

NASA HLS Program Manager Dr. Lisa Watson-Morgan (L) And HEOMD Administrator Kathy Lueders Expected To Designate HLS Winner From 3 Contenders Soon, Contract Base Period Ending February; Blue Origin Was Awarded $579M To Develop Traditional 3-Stage System; Dynetics $253M For Single Stage Craft Supported By Vulcan Centaur Refueling Rockets; SpaceX  $135M For Starship-Based System (Moonship) Which Also Relies On In-Space Cryogenic Refueling; Total Allotment To Build HLS Currently Meager $850M, NASA Estimates $3.3B Necessary

 

Credits: NASA, SpaceX, Dynetics, Blue Origin

Tuesday / 15 Dec 2020

Posted on by

3D Printed Rocket Components Advanced By NASA Expected To Lower Lunar Lander Costs / Build Time

Automated Additive Manufacturing Processes Pioneered By Commercial Launch Providers Such As Rocketlab Now Being Validated For NASA Use On Future Landers By Long-Life Additive Manufacturing Assembly Program; High-Strength Alloy Combustion Chamber / Rocket Nozzle 280 Seconds Of 3315° C Ignition Data Spread Over 10 Days / 23 Tests Being Analyzed At MSFC In Huntsville AL For Durability, Efficiency In Comparison To Conventional Subtractive Machining Techniques; Industry Moving Towards Fully 3D Printed Rockets With Relativity Space Of LA CA Striving For 2021 Terran 1 Launch

Credits: NASA / MSFC, Relativity Space, Rocket Lab, Launcher

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 4-7 Dec 2020

Posted on by

NASA Advances Icy Lunar Regolith Excavation, Lava Tube Mapping & Earth-Moon Commerce

Systems Of Moon Excavation Are Focus Of Break The Ice Lunar Challenge, A Centennial Challenge Directed By KSC And MSFC With US$500k Phase 1 Funds, $4.5M Allocated To Phase 2; NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) Phase 3 Sponsored R&D Led By William ‘Red’ Whittaker On 15-kg / 1-Lunar Day Lifespan PitRanger Mini Rover Designed To Create HD Images Of Lava Tube Interiors Via Aggregation; With Intentions Of Stimulating Cislunar Economy, Masten, Lunar Outpost, ispace Europe & Japan Win Bids To Transport / Sell Moon Samples

Credits: NASA, William Whittaker / PitRanger team, Masten Space Systems, ESA

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 30 Oct – 2 Nov 2020

Posted on by

NASA Lunar Delivery Challenge Seeks New Ideas On Moon Cargo Logistics

With Regular Moon Delivery Of Equipment, Experiments, Supplies Commencing With CLPS 1 And 2 Missions In 2021, NASA Considering Unique Load-Out Challenges On Lunar Surface; Utilizing HeroX Crowdsourcing Platform Founded By Peter Diamandis (T), Led By CEO Christian Cotichini (B), Competition To Award US$10K For 1st Place Solution, 2 $4500 Prizes For 2nd, 3 $2,000 Prizes For 3rd ($25k Total); Concepts To Be Judged On 6 Criteria: Lunar Surface Applicability, Design Flexibility, Proposal Quality, Autonomy, Mass / Volume Optimization, Reliability/ Feasibility; Contest Ends January 19, 2021 17:00 EST

Credits: HeroX, NASA, Xprize, Topcoder, CLC

Friday / 11 Sep 2020

Posted on by

New NASA Patented Route To Moon For Small Craft Will Reduce Costs, Flight Time To 2.5 Months

Orbital Maneuvers Patent (#10696423) Published 30 June Grants Intellectual Property Rights To NASA For Innovative Lunar Trajectory Which Could Allow Smaller Craft, Such As Dark Ages Polarimeter Pathfinder (Dapper), To Reach Moon Faster With Less Fuel, And Avoid Van Allen Belts Radiation; Led By CU Boulder PI Jack Burns, US$150M Dapper Mission Contained In 80-cm Bradford Explorer Bus, Could Be First To Take New Path In 2024; Mission Will Record Low Frequency Radio Waves Emitted During “Dark Ages” Earliest Epochs Of Universe, Perhaps Give Insight Into Dark Matter 

Credits: NASA, JPL-Caltech, Jack Burns, CU Boulder, Business Insider, Jeff Steck

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 4-7 Sep 2020

Posted on by

4 Years Out From Human Moon Landing Goal, Artemis Tech Accelerates Development

SLS Core 8-Minute, 4-Engine Green-Run Test #5 Of 9 Planned NET Oct By Boeing At Stennis, Simulating Launch & Ascent; Recent 2-Minute SLS Booster Test Fire By Northrop In UT Provided 3.6M Pounds-Force, Simulating Lift Off & Flight, And Tested New Materials For Artemis 4 + Beyond; Orion Crew Capsule Moves Into Integration Phase As Major Final Certification Achieved, Will Be Shipped To KSC With SLS For Artemis 1 Launch NET Nov 2021; Artemis 2 + 3 Core Stages Under Production At Michoud

Credits: NASA, Northrop Grumman, Boeing

Friday / 14 Aug 2020

Posted on by

NASA SPLICE To Enable Successful Landings On The Moon, Mars And SSSBs

Safe and Precise Landing Integrated Capabilities Evolution (SPLICE) Advances Through JSC Design And Testing Of Descent & Landing Computer, Responsible For Calculating Relative Position Within 100 Meters; Langley Research Center Designing Navigation Doppler Lidar, Used To Determine Altitude & Descent Speed, Will Fly On 2 Commercial Landers 2021 (Likely Intuitive Machines And Astrobotic); GSFC Designing Hazard Detection Lidar, Capable Of 3-D Imaging From 500 Meters; Terrain Relative Navigation Is To Analyze Surface Features, Matching Live Feed To Known Topography, Under Development By JPL With Draper Providing Algorithmic Software

Pictured: Langley Researcher Aram Gragossian Credits: NASA

Tuesday / 11 Aug 2020

Posted on by

Lunar Laser Ranging  (LLR) Techniques Advance With First 2-Way Infrared Signals Between NASA LRO + Grasse Station

Goddard Space Flight Center And University Côte d’Azur Collaboration Results In First Infrared Photons (~200 Out Of Tens Of Thousands) Received Back From LRO Reflector (15 × 18 × 5 cm, Traveling ~1.6 km Per Second); LRO Array And Other LLR Important For Understanding Lunar Dust / Degradation Of Apollo & Lunokhod Surface Reflectors, Refining Lunar Distance & Orientation, ‘With Implications For Both Lunar Interior Properties And For Astrophysics And Fundamental Physics’; New LLR Opportunities To Come From Future Commercial And Human Moon Landings

Pictured: Researchers from this collaboration; Credits: GSFC, NASA, Université Côte d’Azur, Observatoire de la Côte d’Azur, IRD, Géoazur, CNRS-INSU, CNES, ANR, MIT EAPS, et al

Tuesday / 28 July 2020

Posted on by

Nuclear Power R&D Sought From USA Private Sector To Support Sustainable Moon-Mars Settlements

Dept Of Energy (DoE) Solicits Ideas For Off-Earth Fission Surface Power System Which Will Be Evaluated By Idaho National Lab & NASA; 2-Phase Plan Could See 10-kW Artemis Test Reactor, Flight System + Lander On Moon 2026; Operating Without Need For Water Cooling Is Major Advantage Of Micro-Reactors; Power Source Independent Of Sun To Survive Lunar Night & Establish Deep-Space Settlements Is Vital; ‘Kilopower‘ Reactor In Development With DoE Since 2012; After Nuclear Fusion & Lunar Mining Are Established, Helium-3 Utilization Could Be Next

Pictured: Idaho National Lab at bottom right; Credits: NASA, Pat Rawlings, Office of Enterprise Assessments, US DoE

Friday / 24 July 2020

Posted on by

ISRO Releasing Chandrayaan-2 Data Globally In October, Preparing Chandrayaan-3 For 2021 Launch

Chand-2 Orbiter 8 Payloads Performing Nominally In 100-km Lunar Polar Orbit, Now >1 Year Into Mission As Of 22 July; ISRO Planning To Share Internationally: Highest-Res 3D Moon Map, Science Data Sets On Surface Water-Ice And Minerals / Metals, Argon-40, Exosphere, Solar X-rays; ISRO Chair K. Sivan States Chand-2 Mission “Has Achieved 98% Of Its Objectives”; Chand-3 Lander + Rover Estimated Cost ~US$91.2M, Will Utilize Chand-2 Orbiter, Launch To Moon South Pole Region 1st Half 2021

Credits: ISRO