Category Archives: Advanced Technology

Friday / 6 September 2013

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China Chang’e-3 Publicists Fail On Eve Of USA LADEE Launch

LADEE launch Chang'e-3

America Pioneering Lunar Atmosphere And Dust Environment Explorer, With Revolutionary Modular Spacecraft Bus And Ultrafast Laser Optical Communications, Counts Down To Dramatic 23:27 Virginia Coast Night Launch; Equally Innovative PRC Chang’e-3 Moon Lander Mission Suffers Public Relations, Lunar Progress Setbacks With Grave Translation Errors Of UV-Telescope, UV-Camera, Advanced Radar Instruments

Image Credit: NASA, Wallops/P. Black, Dragon in Space

Friday / 30 August 2013

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Google Lunar X Prize Teams Advancing

GLXP Updates

Team Puli With IndieGoGo Campaign Plans To Send Rover To Moon-Like Mauna Kea In Hawai`i, Have It Take HD Video, Move 500 Meters, Test / Control Systems From Budapest, Hungary 12,552 Km Away; Team Indus Based In New Delhi, India Running Competition To Develop Lunar Rover Designs; Red Whittaker Of Astrobotic Discusses Griffin Lander / Red Rover Mission To Investigate Lacus Mortis 44.962° N, 25.61° E

Image Credit: GLXP, Puli, Indus, Astrobotic, IFA

Friday / 16 August 2013

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Lunar Elevator Workshop At Space Elevator Conference

Lunar Elevator

2013 ISEC Space Elevator Conference To Be Held 23-25 Aug In Seattle WA Includes 3-Hour Lunar Elevator Workshop Led By Michael Laine Of LiftPort Group; Humans / Cargo Would Be Transported To Lagrange Point 1 Depot Via Rocket, Then Gently Lowered To Moon Surface Via Tether; Able To Transport 36 Humans To Moon Annually; Could Travel 1,000 Times Farther Than Space Shuttle For 1/10th Price

Image Credit: LiftPort Group, Newsweek

Thursday / 15 August 2013

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Morpheus Moon & Planetary Surface Lander Advancing

Morpheus

Project Morpheus VTVL Autonomous Vehicle Recently Passed 80-Second Tethered Test (#28) At Johnson Spaceflight Center Houston TX; Expected To Be Shipped To Kennedy Space Center Cape Canaveral FL Soon To Perform Untethered Flight Test; Aug 2012 Untethered Test Destroyed Prototype Lander Seconds After Takeoff; Team Hopes 70 Adjustments / Upgrades To Vehicle & Ground Systems Will Result In Success

Image Credit: NASA

Wednesday / 7 August 2013

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LADEE Missions To Demonstrate Revolutionary New Communication System

LLCD0813

Lunar Laser Communication Demonstration (LLCD) System Ready For Launch On LADEE Mission After Series Of Successful Ground Tests; ESA Observatory In Spain & 2 US Ground Terminals Will Relay Data To The Moon Orbiter At Unprecedented Rates (622 Mbps); Laser Wavelengths 10,000 Times Shorter Than Radio, Allowing For Reduction In Antenna Size – Lowering Mass, Volume, Power Requirements Of Future Space Missions; LADEE Launching 6 Sep 2013

Image Credit: NASA

Friday / 2 August 2013

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South Korea & U.S. Talk Moon Mission Collaboration

KARI NASA

KARI President Seung-Jo Kim Visits Washington DC To Speak With NASA Head Charles Bolden About Potential Moon Mission Collaborations; S Korea Plans To Develop / Launch Lunar Orbiter By 2020 & Strontium-Powered 20-Kg Lunar Rover By 2025; NASA Wants To Redirect Asteroid To Lunar Orbit, Completes Internal Review Of Technical & Programmatic Concepts, Will Now Formulate Mission Baseline Concept

Image Credit: KARI, NASA

Weekend Edition / Fri-Mon 26-29 July 2013

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Zero Point Frontiers Aids Golden Spike Moon Mission Design

Zero-Point-GSC0713

Golden Spike Company Human Lunar Missions Plan Advanced Through Zero Point Frontiers Corp Architecture Analysis; Company Identified Several Combinations Of Vehicles That Can Support Golden Spike Mission, Using Beyond LEO Architecture Sizing Tool (BLAST) Software It Developed For NASA; Report Provided GSC With Confidence In Technical Approach / Business Model; GSC Will Soon Issue Request For Proposal To Select Launch / Space Vehicle Providers

Image Credit: Golden Spike Company, Zero Point Frontiers Corp

Friday / 26 July 2013

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GLXP Proposes New Achievement-Based Cash Prizes

GLXP 25 July

23 Remaining Google Lunar X Prize Teams May Be Able To Receive Additional Cash Prizes Totaling US$14M; Current GLXP Prizes Total $30M; Proposing $7M Split Between 1st Teams To Successfully Launch, $1M For 1st Team To Reach 500-Km Moon Altitude & Eight $750K Prizes Available Prior To Launch – 4 For Complete Designs With Power, Navigation, Hardware Plans, 4 For Complete Camera Subsystem Designs

Image Credit: GLXP, NASA, Xinhua/Y. Yan, SpaceX, Teams: Indus, Penn State, Selenokhod, ARCA

Tuesday / 23 July 2013

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Moon Express Opens Huntsville AL Propulsion Development Facility

SlimPickens0713

New Moon Express (ME) Facility In Huntsville AL Now Operational Says Chief Propulsion Engineer Tim Pickens; Several Propulsion Milestones Already Achieved Including Test Firing Green 1780-Newton Demo Rocket Engine, Developing Mono-Prop & Bi-Prop Propulsion In 0.44-4450-Newton Thrust Class For ME Lander; ME Seeking To Land 1st Commercial Spacecraft On Moon In 2015

Image Credit: Moon Express

Tuesday / 16 July 2013

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Ad Astra Rocket Company VASIMR Engine Could Revolutionize Lunar / Space Travel

DiazVASIMR0713

Record-Holding US Astronaut Franklin Diaz Initiates US$46K Crowdfunding Project To Create Documentary About Space Propulsion Technology His Company Is Developing; Variable Specific Impulse Magnetoplasma Rocket (VASIMR) Uses Superheated Plasma To Propel Craft To Phenomenal Speeds Into Deep Space; With Technology Spacecraft Could Carry Twice As Much Cargo To Moon, Get To Mars In Half The Time, Redirect Dangerous Asteroids, Clean Up Space Junk 

Image Credit: Ad Astra Rocket Company