Category Archives: Cislunar Space Development

Wednesday / 27 July 2022

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Galaxy Forum Southeast Asia (GFSEA), Singapore Considers Lunar Commercial Communications, Pan Asia Astro Cooperation

GFSEA engaging regional astronomical / astronautical space leaders in dialogue at iconic ArtScience Museum 27 July on 3 themes: Considerations for Southeast Asia Space Agency (SEASA), Asia Astronomy Organization (AAO) modeled on European Southern Observatories, and Lunar Commercial Communications (LCC) – expanding commercial communications by 1,240x; Moderated by Singapore Space and Technology Limited President Jon Hung, LCC panel includes International Lunar Observatory Association Hawaii Director Steve Durst, Qosmosys CEO Francois Dubrulle, Transcelestial Technologies Engineer Jan Smisek; ILOA ILO-X precursor NET 22 Dec 2022, ILO-1 flagship NET 2024 missions for astronomy, observations and communications from the Moon

Credits: ILOA, NASA, CSYS, Twitter, Linkedin

Tuesday / 12 July 2022

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Space Habitat, Biome and Transport System Envisioned by Japan Academic / Industry Partnership

Kyoto University Human Spaceology Center teaming with Kajima Corporation to realize sustainable human occupancy of Moon, Mars, and interplanetary space; Comprehensive 3-part proposal includes 396-m Luna Glass, generating 1g artificial gravity via 20-second rotations, Nature biome extracted from global ecosystem, harnessing “natural capital”, and interplanetary Hexatrack transit which would ferry people to / from LEO station, cislunar Gateway, Mars moon Phobos and have modular capsule design for surface transport, hybrid electromagnetic railgun / chemical propulsion; Researchers estimate a precursor system could be constructed within 50 years, full build-out NET 22nd Century

Credits: Kyoto University / Kajima Corporation
 

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 17-20 June 2022

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CAPSTONE, KPLO Danuri and Artemis 1 Teams Working Towards Summer 2022 Moon Orbit

NASA Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment now striving for 25 June launch from LC-1 on Māhia NZ via Rocket Lab Electron / Photon; KARI lunar orbiter Danuri ‘fully prepared’ for 2 August launch on SpaceX Falcon 9 from KSC – South Korea will be 8th nation with Moon probe; Artemis 1, fully stacked with SLS and Orion, to begin WDR countdown 18 June, NASA mission availability schedule indicates 148 possible launch opportunities from 23 August 2022 – 1 July 2023

Credits: NASA, KARI, Rocket Lab

Friday / 10 June 2022

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NASA Conducting Extensive Testing of Solar Electric Propulsion (SEP) for Lunar Gateway

Power and Propulsion Element of Lunar Gateway under development by Maxar to utilize 6 and 12kW Hall-effect ion thruster systems built by Busek and Aerojet Rocketdyne with Moog xenon propellant feeder and Maxar power processing unit; Current testing regimen comes after initial testing phase finds both systems ‘capable of performing across the full mission power range’; SEP to keep Gateway on efficient NRHO during 15-year mission after Q4 2024 launch via SpaceX Falcon Heavy; Tiangong space station is only human-rated ion-powered spacecraft

Credits: NASA, Maxar, Aerojet Rocketdyne

Tuesday / 7 June 2022

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Laser Technology for Earth-Moon Communication Being Developed by Space Agencies / Private Sector

TeraByte InfraRed Delivery (TBIRD), aboard PDT-3 cubesat (built / operated by Terran Orbital) aims to deliver information files from LEO at 200Gbps (USA D/L speeds average ~120Mbps); Italian Space Agency / NASA partnering on LuGRE (2023) to interface with GNSS signals from Moon via Firefly lander under CLPS; both projects utilize laser terminals and are overseen by NASA Space Communications and Navigation (SCaN); Sony Space Communications also working on miniaturized laser comms derived from Small Optical Link for International Space Station installed on Kibo module

Credits: ESA, NASA

Friday / 6 May 2022

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Canada Celebrates Space / Moon with AstroFest in Montreal While Parliament Advances Cislunar Law

Astronaut David Saint-Jacques to speak on future of Canada Moon exploration activities as first Artemis program partner at Rio Tinto Alcan Planetarium, part of Space For Life Museum in Montreal 7 May; Canada to contribute Canadarm3 to Lunar Gateway, send Astronaut on Artemis 2 Moon orbit mission NET 2024; Lawmakers in Ottawa include language extending Canada legal jurisdiction to / from Gateway and lunar surface for both Canada citizenry and those of ‘Partner States’ in House of Commons bill

Credits: CSA-ASC, Ecosystem, Space For Life

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 22-25 April 2022

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2022 Moon Missions Preview: CAPSTONE Could Lead Way on 3 May

Launch window opening 3 May for CAPSTONE orbiter still on schedule; Artemis-1 SLS / Orion / 10 CubeSat launch now likely July-August; Intuitive Machines Nova-C cradle (built by Caldwell Group) to transport lunar lander to KSC arrives in Houston for testing / launch windows for IM-1 & IM-2 announced ‘soon’; Astrobotic Peregrine flight model to have solar panels, fuel tanks, engines installed – launch late 2022; Luna-25 ‘later this year’; Japan ispace lander end of 2022 via SpaceX, SLIM pushed to March 2023; Korea Pathfinder 1 August Launch; ISRO Somanath puts doubt on Chandrayaan-3 launch in 2022

Credits: Advanced Space / Jason Johnson, IM, Astrobotic, ispace, ISRO

Friday / 25 February 2022

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Phase 2 of ‘Watts on the Moon’ Opens 3-Segment, 30-Month, US$4.5M Challenge to Enable Lunar Surface Power Transmission & Energy Storage

Running on HeroX crowdsourcing platform, NASA Centennial Challenges calls for USA team proposals for energy infrastructure concepts supporting long-term Moon operations; Open 23 Feb 2022 with competition end scheduled 11 Sep 2024, 285 teams with 3.3K innovators registered so far; Phase 1 winners (21 May 2021, totaling 500K) were Astrobotic, Astrolight, KC Space Pirates, Michigan Tech University, UC Santa Barbara, Skycorp, Team FuelPod; International missions planned near Boguslawsky, Nobile, Shackleton Rim, Malapert Mountain, Haworth Crater, Simpelius N to help determine solar illumination & resources for crew landing projected 2025 / Artemis 3

Credits: NASA, HeroX

Friday / 18 February 2022

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Precision Technology for Landing Within Shadowed Regions of Moon Surface Sought by NASA

Nighttime Precision Landing Challenge No. 1 offers ≤US$650,000/ea for 3 proposals on lunar landing sensing systems designed to function absent light from ≥250m altitude – a common condition especially in Moon polar regions rich in volatiles such as hydrogen, oxygen, water termed Permanently Shadowed Regions, cold traps on crater floors that are seldom / never illuminated; Hardware such as optical, radar and lidar sensors coupled with machine learning software are likely approaches to challenge; Submissions accepted until 19 May 17:00 PDT

Credits: NASA, Masten, Astrobotic

Tuesday / 15 February 2022

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Object on Course for Farside Lunar Impact Now Thought to be CNSA Chang’e 5-T1 Rocket Stage

Following consultation with Jon Giorgini of JPL, astrometry expert Bill Gray reevaluates premise used to determine identity of item on Moon impact trajectory (WE0913A – first observed by Catalina Sky Survey near Tucson AZ), ruling out Falcon 9 stage (2015-007B) and instead positing object is spent stage used to propel Chang’e 5-T1 lunar orbiter / return capsule (2014-065B); Gray advocates astrometry software, Guide, be utilized in “official, funded manner” on “international basis” to track deep space debris in light of increasing missions to cislunar space including human Moon landings

Credits: NAOC, CNSA, NASA