Friday / 9 July 2021

Moon Society Advancing Multi World Civilization

2021 Lunar Development Conference 9-10 July To Be Streamed Live And Recorded / Uploaded To YouTube; Moon Society Celebrates 21 Years Advocating For Human Moon Settlement And ISRU With Motto Ad Luna! (To The Moon!); Artemis Project Plan For Commercial Moonbase Establishment (Not To Be Confused With NASA-led Artemis Program) Created By Lunar Resources Company, Acquired By Moon Society; Discussions Feature (T-B) Pete Worden Of Breakthrough Initiatives, Space Policy Expert Namrata Goswami, Space Educator Andy Aldrin, NSS President Michelle Hanlon, MVA North America Coordinator Madhu Thangavelu

Credits: The Moon Society, NASA, Twitter, Moon Express

Tuesday / 6 July 2021

‘921 Rocket’ Could Carry China Taikonauts To Moon Surface By Mid-Decade

Crewed Launch Vehicle Being Developed By China Aerospace Science and Technology Codenamed 921, Reference To Chinese National Manned Space Program (Shenzhou) 1992 Founding Date, May Be More Timely Alternative Than Super Heavy Lift Vehicle Long March 9 To Achieve China Human Moon Landing; LM-9 Most Recent Design Iteration Calls For 10.6-m Diameter Core Stage With 16 YF-135 Engines Sans Auxiliary Boosters, Suggestive Of Reusability Goals; ‘921 Rocket’ Speculated To Be Designated Long March 5DY And Could Be Used To Ferry Crew To TLI With 2-Craft Configuration By 2025

Credits: CNSA, CASC

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 2-5 July 2021

Is The Moon Next Goal For Space Billionaires?

Momentous July Days For Private Space Travel Forthcoming, As Virgin Galactic And Blue Origin Founders Richard Branson And Jeff Bezos Plan To Personally Launch To Space 11 July And 20 July, Respectively, Raising Question Of Next Horizons: While Elon Musk Of SpaceX Has Focused On Mars Habitation, Bezos Plans Massive Rotating Artificial Structures In The Vein Of Gerard O’Neill, Branson Intent On Terrestrial Point-To-Point Space Travel, Establishment Of Human Settlement On Earth’s Moon Is Increasingly Recognized As “Critical Next Step” In Transformation To Multi-World Species Status; SpaceX Only Company To Declare Private Crewed Lunar Mission, 2023 ‘DearMoon’ Financed By Japan Fashion Billionaire Yusaku Maezawa

Credits: SpaceX, Blue Origin, Virgin Galactic, NASA

Tuesday / 29 June 2021

Russia May Launch Human Missions To Moon, Tiangong Space Station From Guiana

General Director Dmitry Rogozin Indicates Roscosmos Space Agency In Talks With French Space Agency CNES To Renovate Guiana Space Centre In Support Of “Large Lunar Project” And “Launching [To] Chinese Station”; 41.5° Orbital Inclination Of Tiangong vs 51.6° Of ISS Makes Russia Spaceports At Baikonur (46°N) And Vostochny (52°N) Unappealing, As Additional Maneuvering Would Cost Precious ∆v; Launches From GSC At 5.2°N Would Be Appropriate Also For Lunar Missions; Irtysh / Soyuz-5 Rocket In Development To Power Oryol (Eagle) Deep Space Crew Vessel With 4-6 Cosmonaut Capacity

Credits: Roscosmos, CCTV, GSC

Tuesday / 15 June 2021

Russia Strives For Human Presence On Moon Surface, Jupiter Probe By 2030

Luna 25 Launch Set For 1 October, Marking Resumption Of Lunar Exploration Activities After 45+ Year Hiatus For Russia, First Nation To Robotically Explore Moon; Luna 25 To Attempt Landing At Boguslavsky Crater Near Moon South Pole (72.9°S, 43.2°E) To Investigate Subsurface Ice Deposits; Luna 26 (2024), Lunar 27 (2025), Luna 28 (2027) To Culminate With International Lunar Research Station Buildout With China & Human Lunar Missions By Decade End; Nuclear-Powered Zeus To Launch From Moon Orbit 2030, Exploit Venus Gravity-Assist On Jupiter Trajectory During 50-Month, US$58M Mission

Credits: Roscosmos, NASA, ISRO

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 4-7 June 2021

World Space Leaders Meet As Two Distinct Lunar Coalitions Take Shape

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

Credits: NASA, TASS, ESA, Wikipedia

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 21-24 May 2021

Solar Weather Patterns May Imperil Human Moon Landings If Artemis Schedule Slips

University Of Reading (UK) Study Applies Statistical Analysis To 150 Years Of Solar Weather Data; Findings Suggest Extreme Coronal Mass Ejections, Deleterious To Human Health And Technology, May Be More Probable In Later Half Of Odd-Numbered 11-Year Solar Cycles (With Opposite Trend During Even), Possibly Due To Concurrent Solar Geomagnetic Reversals; Cycle 25 Runs From Approximately 2019-30, Artemis Human Moon Missions In Possible Jeopardy 2026-30 Unless Nominal Surface Exposure Radiation Levels Of 60 µSv/h Can Be Maintained With Shielding Measures

Credits: NASA

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 30 Apr – 3 May 2021

Ad Astra Michael Collins, 10 Apollo Moonwalkers / Orbiters Remain As Multi-World Generational Bridge For Artemis Continuity

Apollo 11 & Gemini 10 Astronaut, Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum Director, Author Michael Collins Has Passed At Age 90; Eulogized By President Joseph Biden As “Equal Partner” In First Human Moon Landing, Exemplifying “Importance Of Collaboration”; A Prolific Thinker, Collins Wrote In 1974 Autobiography Carrying the Fire, “Future Flight Should Include A Poet, A Priest And A Philosopher”; Buzz Aldrin, David Scott, Charles Duke And Harrison Schmitt Are Last Crewmembers To Land On Moon, With Frank Borman, Jim Lovell, Bill Anders, Tom Stafford, Fred Haise And Ken Mattingly Reaching Lunar Orbit

Credits: NASA

Tuesday / 27 Apr 2021

Suit For Moon South Pole, Lunar Gateway, ISS To Be Developed For NASA By Industry

Commercial Crew-Style “Service-Based Model” To “Accelerate Industry And Our Artemis Exploration Plans” Per Deputy Associate Administrator For Advanced Exploration Systems Mark Kirasich; Design Cycle, Maintenance And Training To Be Managed By One Or More Partners With NASA Oversight; xEVA And Exploration Extravehicular Mobility Unit (xEMU) Programs To Continue Within NASA, Concurrent With Commercial Program – Providing Redundancy; Responses To Exploration Extravehicular Activity Services RFI 80JSC21XEVAS Due 29 April

Credits: NASA, Boeing, SpaceX, HI-SEAS

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 23-26 Apr 2021

NASA Administrator Nominee Reaffirms USA Commitment To Artemis Human Lunar Landings, Competitive Contract Practices

In Testimony To Senate Commerce Committee Nominee Bill Nelson Pledges “Moon Should Be A Place That Is Not Militarized” Under Artemis Accords, Urges Cooperation Between Nations Participating In Lunar Activity; Committee Chair Maria Cantwell Advocates For “Dissimilar Redundancy” In Human Lander Program, Opening Possibility Of Future Additional Contracts; Nelson Insists “Timetable For 2024 Is Still There”, Implying That SpaceX Confidence In Keeping Schedule Deciding Factor In Award; Confirmation In Full Senate Expected 28 April

Credits: NASA, US Senate