Summer Around the Moon: 3 Orbiters May Embark as NASA Funds New Private Sector Lunar R&D
NASA CAPSTONE targeting 13-22 June launch window; KARI Danuri set for 2 Aug, NASA Artemis 1 team working to achieve WDR 19 June then NET Aug launch; Vessels are bound for ~1,609×70,006km NRHO, elliptical 100km polar orbit, and 100×61,155km DRO respectively; NASA PRISM science proposals Lunar-VISE (investigation of Gruithuisen Domes), LEIA (study of yeast exposed to lunar environment) to receive CLPS task orders for launch circa 2026; NASA SSTR awarding US$150K to Air Company Holdings / NYU for development of RP-1 production process using only CO2 / H2; NASA Break the Ice Lunar Challenge phase 2 distributing $3M for water harvesting tech
Astrobotic working to complete Peregrine lander at 4,645-m2 Pittsburgh HQ, flight model to be unveiled at 
Recipients of first 3 CLPS Task Orders, scheduled to land on Moon within 2022, Astrobotic of Pittsburgh (TO-1 / Lacus Mortis / US$79.5M) and Intuitive Machines of Houston (TO-2 / Vallis Schröteri / $77M, TO-3 / MSP / $47M) leading effort to return USA robotic landers to Moon surface; Astrobotic awaiting flight readiness of ULA Vulcan Centaur, itself waiting on pair of Blue Origin BE-4 engines 
Wet Dress Rehearsal (propellant loading, countdown sequencing) of flagship ‘Mega Moon Rocket’ SLS expected 17 March at KSC Launch Pad 39B pending NASA test readiness review / subsequent press conference March 14 and inaugural launch to Moon orbit NET May; Rocket Lab Capstone orbiter launch window now set for 3-15 May; Intuitive Machines IM-1 launching NET June; Roscosmos Luna-25 NET 23 July; ISRO Chandrayaan-3 NET Aug; Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter NET 1 Aug; ispace HAKUTO-R NET Oct, Astrobotic Peregrine Mission One NET Nov; IM-2 NET Dec, JAXA SLIM launching late 2022
Seeking to overcome range constraints of single-landing craft and speed limitations of ground rovers, international science engineering teams utilizing computer modelling promote alternative rocket ‘hopper’ concept first used on Lunar surface during Surveyor 6 (1967) and Pogo-stick style locomotion; NASA CLPS lunar lander provider Intuitive Machines is to carry Micro-Nova, capable of traversing 2.4km with 900 gram payload capacity, on IM-2 mission near Shackleton Rim; Micro-Nova may allow investigation of otherwise inaccessible PSRs, thought to contain water ice
Instant (15-sec) lunar landing pad concept in-Flight Alumina Spray Technique (FAST) may save Artemis program US$120M/landing according to Masten CEO Sean Mahoney; Plan calls for lander rocket plume fed with Al2O3 ceramic particles fusing with regolith to create 1-mm thick crust during landing, preventing widespread dust dispersion; Masten continues test program with next-gen Xogdor 0.75 x 8m resuable VTVL rocket; Programming languages developed by AdaCore to be utilized during $75.9M XL-1 Nov 2023 CLPS mission to MSP
Astrobotic now employs 150+ from Pittsburgh HQ, from which Peregrine lander (100kg capacity) to be controlled as it descends onto and operates from Lacus Mortis in 2022; AON3D of Montreal to supply additive 3D printed components, funded by $11.5M investment round; CAES of Arlington providing avionics flight control processor; Griffin lander (500kg capacity) to deliver VIPER / Neutron Spectrometer System by 2024; PRISM-identified science missions 1A to Reiner Gamma, 1B to Schrödinger crater in 2024; 2A with 6° of MSP, 2B to Gruthuisen Domes in 2025 yet to be awarded to CLPS providers
Partnering With Crowdsourcing Platform Wevolver, 
NASA SBIR / SBTT Awards $750K/EA To 6 Businesses With Moon Focus: Paragon Space Development Corporation Of Tucson AZ (ISRU Collector Of Ice); Lunar Resources Of Houston TX (Molten Regolith Electrolysis Oxygen Capturing, Filtering & Storage System); Advanced Cooling Technologies Of Lancaster PA (Thermal Management System For Lunar Ice Miners); CesiumAstro Of Austin TX (Commercial Communications & Sensing System); Flight Works Of Irvine CA (High Performance Pump-fed Lunar Transfer Stage For Small Launchers); Blueshift Of Broomfield CO (Modeling Rover Interactions With Lunar Regolith In PSRs)