University of Arizona Advances Autonomous Lunar Mining under $500K NASA Grant
Engineers at UArizona developing robot swarm mining techniques for lunar application under NASA Minority University Research and Education Project Space Technology Artemis Research (M-STAR) fund; Human and Explainable Autonomous Robotic System (HEART) is collaboration between Moe Momayez (L) of Mining & Geological and Jekan Thanga of Aerospace & Mechanical engineering departments aimed at melding excavation, ISRU, machine learning, economical 3D printing in support of robotic and human exploration; Efforts may be precursor to Von Neumann-style self-replication
Known to contain molecular water and other useful volatiles per LRO & Chandrayaan / Moon Mineralogy Mapper data, lunar South Pole region exploration is focus of CLPS mission sequence with Intuitive Machines to deliver Prime-1 consisting of Trident 1m drill / MSolo off-the-shelf mass spectrometer to area in Q4 2022 under US$47M contract, Astrobotic to deliver VIPER autonomous rover with same instrument suite late 2023 under $199.5M contract; Landing site selection may have profound implications for human lunar base buildout, with Shackleton, Cabeus, Nobile Craters, Leibniz Plateau, Malapert Mountain being strong contenders
Leaders at NASA and Roscomos intend to maintain partnership in LEO on ISS, with Administrator Nelson pledging ‘continued cooperation’ and Director General Rogozin characterizing statements to the contrary as ‘problem in interpretation’; While USA is leading Artemis Coalition to Moon and Russia has signed agreement with China to build ILRS, Nelson and Rogozin are to meet in Russia to discuss more broad participation; Lesson plans based on real-world Artemis challenges now available from NASA: 
International Artemis coalition is on track per NASA Administrator Nelson, echoing JFK “We can do hard things”, reiterating 2021 Artemis I timetable uncrewed SLS launch / Orion distant retrograde orbit; Artemis II launching NET September 2023 with first crewed mission beyond LEO since Apollo 17, with 4-member crew including Canadian Astronaut to fly 8,889 km past Moon during 8-day trip; Artemis III 4-member Orion crew + 2-member surface team including first woman on Moon surface; NASA 
With CLPS robotic surface missions delayed into Q1 2022, the 25-kg, 12U Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment (CAPSTONE) is to kick off Artemis Moon program with Oct launch to 1,600 x 70,000km near rectilinear halo orbit via Rocketlab Electron, with goal of proving orbital stability ahead of Gateway by positioning relative to LRO; Artemis 1 launching NET Nov 26 to validate SLS / Orion while dispersing 13 cubesats from Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage in 4 batches following trans-lunar injection, allowing wide range of cislunar trajectories
12U lunar pathfinder 
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 
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson In Talks With Roscosmos Director General Dmitry Rogozin On Future Of ISS Partnership As USA And Russia Presidents Biden And Putin Prepare For Geneva Summit 16 June; Nelson Predicts Space Travel “On Agenda”, Characterizes Biden As “A Fan Of Space”; Concurrently, Roscosmos And CNSA To Co-Host Meeting On International Lunar Research Station (ILRS) At Global Space Exploration Conference 2021 In St. Petersburg, During Which Potential International Partners Expected To Respond To Participation Invites; ISRO, ESA Have Yet To Commit To 11 Nation-Strong Artemis Coalition Or ILRS, Raising Possibility Of Dual Membership
Administrator Bill Nelson Outlines Vision For Future Of USA Space Activity, Telling 