Category Archives: Advanced Technology

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

Tuesday / 31 Oct 2023

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Blue Origin Advances Blue Moon Line of Lunar Landers for Commercial and Artemis Missions

Pathfinder Mission MK1-SN001 to demonstrate 16-m tall Blue Moon Mark 1 (MK1) technology including 100-m accurate lidar-based landing system, BE-7 engines, cryogenics, and lunar comms ahead of first commercial mission MK1-SN002 offering 3 tons of payload capacity to customers; Demo missions slated for 2024 & 2025 per successful Blue Origin bid for second US$3.4B HLS contract awarded 19 May; Blue Moon Mark 2 (MK2) to carry 4 astronauts to lunar surface near MSP during Artemis 5 NET Sep 2029

Pictured: Blue Origin Founder Jeff Bezos, NASA Director Bill Nelson; Credits: NASA, GSFC, Arizona State University, Blue Origin

Tuesday / 24 Oct 2023

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ISRO Chairman Looking Forward to Domestic Human Spaceflight Including Women Vyomanauts to Moon 2040

Indian Human Spaceflight Programm (IHSP) on track to launch crewed mission to space following successful Test Vehicle Abort Mission-1, the first of 4 planned abort tests to be conducted prior to 3 Gaganyaan uncrewed test flights in 2024 culminating in 3-crewmember Gaganyaan-4 mission NET 2025; Female-appearing humanoid robot Vyommitra to ride on Gaganyaan-2 & 3, while ISRO will seek human women Vyomanauts from future classes of fighter pilots in the long term, and recruit women scientists to work in space in the near-term per S Somanath

Credits: ISRO

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 13-16 Oct 2023

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Astronomy from the Moon is Increasing Focus of International Moon Missions

Unique vantage of lunar surface is attracting multitude of astronomy initiatives: ILO-X Galaxy imaging precursor instrument suite launching on Intuitive Machines Nova-C lander NET Nov 15; AstronetX Lunar-based Camera (L-CAM), led by Tabetha Boyajian of LSU, may launch on ispace Mission 2 NET 2024; Dipole antenna LuSEE-Lite heading to Schrödinger Basin aboard Draper / ispace APEX 1.0 lander NET 2025, while 4-monopole antenna LuSEE-Night expected to launch to Moon far side in late 2025 / early 2026 on Firefly Aerospace Blue Ghost lander; CNSA Chang’e-8 to conduct soft-x-ray (<3 KeV) observation NET 2028

Credits:

Friday / 13 Oct 2023

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China Bolstering Very-Long-Baseline Interferometry Network With 2 New Telescopes for Cislunar / Deep Space Tracking

The 5th and 6th radio telescopes of the China VLBI Network are under construction following groundbreaking at sites in Changbai Mountains (near North Korea border) 11 Oct and in Shigatse, Tibet Autonomous Region, China in September; Shigatse station to feature 40-m radio telescope operating at 4,100-m; When linked to Nanshan 25m Radio Telescope (Ürümqi), Tianma 65-m Telescope (Shanghai), Beijing 50-m antenna (Miyun) and Yunnan Astronomical Observatory 40-meter radio telescope (Kunming), network will extend to 3800 km and allow observation of multiple spacecraft with 18% increased resolution

Pictured: SHAO Director Shen Zhiqiang; Credits: SHAO, NAOC, CAS, CNSA

Friday / 8 Sep 2023

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Japan is Latest Nation to Join Lunar Exploration Wave with SLIM Lander on Way to Moon

JAXA controllers guiding US$100M Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) as orbital raising maneuvers set to commence, beginning fuel-efficient journey expected to take 3-4 months to reach lunar orbit with 100m-accuracy soft landing east of Shioli crater (13.2°S, 25.2°E) on 15° slope in late Jan / early Feb 2024; Advanced vision-based navigation system and belly landing technique to allow ‘landing where we want’ per JAXA President Hiroshi Yamakawa, capabilities to be utilized in JAXA-ISRO LUPEX polar mission NET 2025, Lunar Cruiser pressurized crew vehicle for Artemis late 2020s, and mid-sized lunar cargo lander early 2030s

Credits: JAXA

Friday / 1 Sep 2023

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Ecliptic Enterprises Corporation to Continue Advancing Technology for Space and Moon as ARQUIMEA Subsidiary

Optical space system provider Ecliptic Enterprises of Pasadena, California to be acquired by technology developer ARQUIMEA – headquartered in Spain, with operations in Canary Islands, Singapore and USA employing 500+; Ecliptic has received a US$5M cash infusion to support design of radiation hardened payloads for space and lunar applications including high-res multispectral imagers for Earth observation and routers for use on and around Moon; ARQUIMEA USA CEO Jesus Delgado tells Parabolic Arc he expects to quickly grow Ecliptic revenue from $10M to $50M

Credits: Ecliptic Enterprises, ARQUIMEA

Friday / 28 July 2023

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Nokia on Track for 4G Cellular Communication Technology for Future Moon, Mars Missions NET 2024

Planning to brave unexplored conditions of Moon south pole Shackleton crater, Nokia Bell Labs (subsidiary of Finland parent company) intends to provide first-ever lunar 4G/LTE cellular internet technology via NASA Tipping Point award and in partnership with Intuitive Machines; IM-2 Nova-C lander will host space-hardened version of 4G/LTE microcell base station unit while 2 lunar vehicles (Lunar Outpost Rover and IM Micro-Nova Hopper) will host radio frequency antennae; IM-2 mission to launch from KSC on SpaceX Falcon 9 NET 2024, plan to provide critical communication networks for future crewed Artemis and robotic missions

Credits: Intuitive Machines, Nokia Bell Labs, NASA