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
NASA Lunar Science Institute In Mountain View CA Changes Name To Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Institute (SSERVI); Name Change Reflects Natural 21st Century Advance Of Human Exploration Goals, Building Out From Vital Well-Developed Cislunar Foundation To Include Vast Resources & Promising Research / Exploration / Human Settlement Potential Of Asteroids, Mars, Jupiter / Saturn Moons & Beyond
Image Credit: 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
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
Two NASA Interplanetary Spacecraft Capture Images Of Earth-Moon System; MESSENGER Obtained Its Black & Whited Photos (R) From A Position Around Mercury (98 Million Km From Earth), While Cassini Used Acquired Color Images From A Vantage Point 1.5 Billion Km Away, Behind A Back-Lit Saturn; Images Demonstrate How Tiny Earth Is In Vastness Of Space, & Strategic Importance / Logic Of Developing Earth-Moon System As 1st Step In Human Expansion Into The Cosmos
Image Credit: NASA
To Be True Leaders / Pioneers In 21st Century Lunar Exploration Golden Spike Company May Focus On Ideal Destination For Enabling 1st Permanent Off-World Settlement: Moon South Pole; Plentiful Ice Water / Resources For ISRU In Permanently Shadowed Craters / Aitken Basin, Relatively Stable Temperature, Access To Near-Continuous Sunlight To Power Long-Duration Missions & Permanent Settlements; GSC Working To Achieve Commercial Human Moon Missions By End Of Decade
Image Credit: Golden Spike Company, NASA
South Pole Destination Of NET 2016 ILO-Moon Express Lunar Mission Selected To Ensure Long-Duration Nature Of Mission – Thermal Environment (~-50°C) / Solar Power Access On Malapert Mountain / PEL, Continuous Line Of Sight To Earth For Commercial Communications, Ability To Image Milky Way Galaxy Center; ILO Also To Observe & Report Human Lunar Buildout, Private & Public Parties Pointing To South Pole / Aitken Basin – With Prevalent Water Ice / Mineral Deposits – As Ideal Location For Development
Image Credit: ILOA, Moon Express, NASA
Colorado-Based Company Seeking To Deliver 2-Person Crews To Lunar Surface For US$1.5B Is Garnering Attention From Aerospace-Minded States Florida & Texas, Which See Economic Potential In Hosting Start-up Company; CEO Alan Stern Notes Current Host Colorado Has Not Offered Support Nor Incentive To Company; GSC Rapidly Advancing Business Plan Through Recent Technical Breakthroughs With Research Partners Northrop Grumman, ULA, Etc.
Image Credit: Golden Spike Company, Space Florida, governor.state.tx.us
GLXP Team Astrobotic Technologies Inc. Offers 30% Price Reduction For Payload Delivery To Moon Aboard Its Lunar Lander / Rover With Launch Set Oct 2015 Via SpaceX Falcon 9 Rocket; US$99K/kg For Trans-Lunar Injection, $1.2M/kg For Lunar Surface Delivery On Lander, $2M/kg On Rover; Lander & Rover Will Power & Support Payload Operations For 10 Days, Then Hibernate For 14-Day Lunar Night & Recover After Sunrise, Continue Operations
Image Credit: Astrobotic
Astronaut Chris Cassidy Pilots NASA Rover For 3 Hours Across Mock Lunar Surface At Ames Research Center; Remotely Directed Robot Unfurled ‘Antenna Film’ Developed By Jack Burns / University Of Colorado Boulder Scientists For Lunar Farside Radio Telescope Mission Concept; Burns & Team Hope To See Rover / Radio Telescope Deployed By Similar Telerobotic Technique Via Orion Mission To Earth-Moon L2
Image Credit: NASA, lunar.colorado.edu