Team Displays Early Prototypes Of Descent Vehicle & Rover At Bay Area Maker Faire In CA; Phoenicia Planning To Do Much Development Of Flight Hardware In-House; Has Plans For 2014 Launch As Secondary Payload With SpaceX; Already Raised Over US$5M For Lunar South Pole Mission; Currently Listed In 3rd Place In Unofficial Evadot Scorecard; Potential Collaborators On Human Moon Mission
Image Credit: Team Phoenicia, pcworld.com
3 Affordable US Lunar Lander Options Advancing Through Commercial & Government Efforts; Armadillo Aerospace Morpheus Lander Passed Several Tethered Tests At NASA JSC, Designed For 1-Way, Uncrewed Missions Up To 500kg; SpaceX Red Dragon Lander Concept Also 1-Way Option, Capsule Useful Component Of Potential Base; Masten Xeus Concept Could Carry 4.5 Tonnes To Lunar Surface & Back
Image Credit: NASA, SpaceX, Masten
Image Credit: NASA
Autonomous Landing Hazard Avoidance Technology (ALHAT) System Under Development At NASA Will Enable Safe Landings In Locations Apollo Never Could Have Gone; Terrain Relative Navigation System Utilizes 3 Sensors (Optical, Lidar, Laser Altimeter) & Stored Data To Determine Lander Position & Velocity; Hazard Detection System Generates DEM With 10-cm Resolution
Image Credit: Uchusen Company, Naviblog
Uchusen Company, University Of Southampton & DeltaCAT Ltd., Present ‘Hopper Alpha’ Demonstrator; Team Went From Blank Paper To Core Physical & Electronics Framework Ready For Gimbal/Thruster, Firing & Hovering Phase, In Under 1 Calendar Year; Managing Director Mandali Khalesi: Project Is Initial Step Towards Agile Spacecraft Development Required In New Century; Could Be Utilized For Lunar Or NEO Missions
Image Credit: southtek.com, K. Pichumani, ISRO
ISRO Chairman Radhakrishnan Says Chandrayaan-2 Launch Will Follow 2 Successful Launches Of GSLV Rocket With Indigenous Cryogenic Engine; GSLV Systems To Undergo Series Of Tests & Modifications To Rectify Problems From 2 Failed Launches; Next Launches Scheduled For Fall 2012, Early 2013, Chandrayaan-2 Orbiter / Lander / Rover Launch NET 2014
Image Credit: NASA, GLXP, Team Puli
4 GLXP Teams Present Their Plans To, Invite Science Payloads From, 170 Lunar Scientists At Recent European Lunar Symposium In Berlin; Puli, AMALIA, FREDNET, Synergy Moon Among 11 GLXP Teams With Significant European Involvement; Radio Antennae, X-Ray Spectroscopes Among Payload Concepts Proposed During Highly Successful Session
Image Credit: NASA
Doug Currie Will Speak On Lunar Laser Ranging Program (LLRP) During LUNAR Webinar Friday, 13 Apr, Noon MDT; Science Results From LLRP Data Using Apollo Reflectors, New Generation Of Lunar Reflectors That Could Be Deployed By GLXP Landers; LLRP Data Facilitates Understanding Of Interior Of Moon, Origin Of Solar System Bodies, Inconsistency Between General Relativity & Quantum Mechanics
Image Credit: NPO Lawochkina, iki.rssi.ru
Russian Academy Of Sciences Space Research Institute Director Lev Zelyony Says Luna-Glob Mission To Land On South Pole In 2015; Zelyony Announces Mission To Be Followed In 2016 By Orbiter, 2017 By Unmanned Heavy Spacecraft Carrying 2 Landers, “Moon Will Be In The Focus Of Our Activity This Decade”; Russia Also Collaborating With India On Chandrayaan-2 Mission
Image Credit: Astrobotic Technology Inc
New Polaris Lunar Rover Will Prospect For Water Ice, Methane & Other Resources At Moon North Pole; Solar Powered Astrobotic Robot Will Launch Aboard Falcon 9 Rocket NET 2015, Spend 12 Days Exploring, Carry 80kg Of Payload Including Drill, Instruments To Analyze Samples, Neutron Spectrometer & Infrared Spectrometer To Search For Signs Of Ice; Design Adapted From Lunar Excavation Machine Astrobotic Prototyping Under 2010 NASA Contract
Image Credit: NASA, Russianspaceweb.com, CLEP
Highest Resolution Image (R) Of Russia Luna 24 Lander Descent Stage Acquired By LROC From Altitude Of 29km Above Surface On Orbit #10904; Spacecraft (L) Landed On Mare Crisium On 18 August 1976, Returned 170g Of Regolith To Earth After Less Than 24 Hours On Moon; Long Hiatus From Moon Surface Will End In 2013 If China Successful With Chang’e-3 Landing