NGLR-1 Elevates Lunar Laser Ranging for Artemis Precision Navigation
Next Generation Lunar Retroreflector-1 (NGLR-1) at Mare Crisium since 2 Mar 2025 via Firefly Blue Ghost Lander is target for Earth-based lasers, enables one-millimeter-precise Moon distance; expected to operate for 50+ years, is in 17x13x12cm housing; Grasse, Wettzell and Apache Point Observatories send laser beams for reflection; NGLR-1 precision achieves >17x improvement over retroreflectors placed by Apollo Astronauts, benefits Artemis Missions via enhanced navigation for safe landings, ISRU / habitat siting; NGLR-1 development at University of Maryland with physicist Doug Currie, who also led Apollo retroreflector creation; planned are retroreflector set-ups via Artemis 3 near Moon South Pole and CLPS to non-polar location, with 3 together providing unprecedented data
Image Credits: (L-R) Doug Currie at McDonald Observatory, Doug Currie today (John T Consoli), NGLR-1 by Currie, Buzz Aldrin with Apollo retroreflector courtesy Doug Currie
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
CSA-ASC funding 5 companies to advance Lunar Surface Exploration Initiative with 7 studies (~US$200K/ea, $1.4M total) on agricultural science, avionics/comms, mining/ISRU, power; Canadensys (Bolton ON) to study lunar greenhouse, modular rover concepts; MDA (Brampton ON) to study nuclear power generation, autonomous robots / rovers; MPB Communications (Pointe-Claire QC) to study Earth-Moon optical comms, Canadian Space Mining Corporation (Toronto ON) to study lunar prospecting; Honeywell Ltd. of Canada (Ottawa ON) to study Moon surface / orbit communication network
12-g Moon samples collected during Apollo 11, 12, 17 utilized by 3 researchers at UF Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences demonstrate viability of lunar regolith as growing medium; Arabidopsis thaliana (thale cress) seeds germinated at “rates close to 100%” within 48-60 hours, similar to control group with volcanic ash substrate; Regolith-grown plants were affected by higher differentially expressed gene rate which study authors attribute to solar wind, cosmic radiation effects, abundance of iron oxides; Outcomes varied by sample location with Apollo 17 most robust