Tuesday / 17 September 2013

LRO Continuing To Produce Valuable Data

LROdata15

Release #15 Of LRO Data Now Available At Planetary Data System Archive; New Data Was Acquired Between 15 Mar & 14 Jun 2013, From CRaTER, Diviner, LAMP, LEND, LOLA, LROC & SPICE Instruments; 6 More LRO Data Releases Scheduled, Final Release In Mar 2015; LROC WAC Data Used To Create Time-Lapse Video Of Full Rotation Of Moon

 Image Credit: NASA

Tuesday / 10 September 2013

LADEE: Destination Moon

LADEEempirest

383-Kg Spacecraft Now Making 30-Day Journey To Moon Through Series Of Phasing Orbits That Will Allow It To Arrive At Proper Time / Phase; Flawless Night Launch Provided Spectacular Viewing For East Coast USA; Slight Glitch With Craft Reactor Wheels Corrected By NASA Engineers; Upon 6 Oct Arrival At Moon LADEE Will Go Through 30-Day Checkout Phase & Then 100-Day Science Phase In Which It Will Orbit Moon Between 20-60-Km 

Image Credit: NASA, Ben Cooper

Weekend Edition / Fri-Mon 6-9 Sep 2013

Launch Of Last Scheduled NASA Moon Mission As Lunar Experts Flock To NewSpace Companies

LADEEme0913

LADEE Launch — 6 Sep, 23:27 EDT, Wallops Island VA, Via Minotaur 5 Rocket — Promises To Provide Spectacular Show To East Coast USA Viewers; US$248M-Mission Will Test New System For Ultra-Fast Optical Data Transmission — 600 Mbit/s, Unravel Mysteries Of Lunar Atmosphere / Dust Environment, Premiere Common Spacecraft Bus; Next Flight Of The Bus Likely On Moon Express (ME) GLXP Mission NET 2015; ME Announces Paul Spudis New Chief Scientist, Jack Burns Added To Science Advisory Board

Image Credit: NASA, Moon Express

Friday / 6 September 2013

China Chang’e-3 Publicists Fail On Eve Of USA LADEE Launch

LADEE launch Chang'e-3

America Pioneering Lunar Atmosphere And Dust Environment Explorer, With Revolutionary Modular Spacecraft Bus And Ultrafast Laser Optical Communications, Counts Down To Dramatic 23:27 Virginia Coast Night Launch; Equally Innovative PRC Chang’e-3 Moon Lander Mission Suffers Public Relations, Lunar Progress Setbacks With Grave Translation Errors Of UV-Telescope, UV-Camera, Advanced Radar Instruments

Image Credit: NASA, Wallops/P. Black, Dragon in Space

Wednesday / 4 September 2013

LADEE Mission Creates Excitement / Questions

LADEEquestions0913

1000 VIPs Expected To Attend LADEE Launch This Fri, 6 Sep 23:27 EDT From Wallops VA; Scientists Enthusiastic To Learn More About Lunar Atmosphere, 1 / 100,000th The Density Of Earth’s, & How Atmosphere / Dust Will Affect Future Human & Robotic Explorers; Whether / When Any Of Those Explorers Will Be American Remains Unclear However As NASA Lacking Any Follow-Up Moon Missions On Current Schedule

Image Credit: NASA

Wednesday / 28 August 2013

Magmatic Water Detected On Moon

MagmaticWater813

Scientists Use Moon Mineralogy Mapper Data From Chandrayaan-1 Lunar Orbiter (R) To Make 1st Remote Detection Of Magmatic Water On Moon Surface; Significant Amounts Of Hydroxyl Discovered In 60-Km  Wide Lunar Impact Crater Bullialdus (L) Near Equator Indicates Presence Of Water Which Originated Deep Within Lunar Surface; Data Provides Clues About Volcanic Processes & Internal Composition Of Moon

Image Credit: NASA, ISRO

Weekend Edition / Fri-Mon 23-26 August 2013

LADEE Launch To Achieve Multiple Firsts

Minotaur5_0813

Launch Of US$280M Mission, Scheduled For 23:27 EDT On 6 Sep, Will Be Visible To Tens Of Millions Of People Along America East Coast; First Lunar / Planetary Launch From Wallops Island Spaceport, VA; Inaugural Launch Of Minotaur 5 Rocket, 3 Of 5 Stages Made From Converted Cold War Ballistic Missiles; Debut Of Modular Common Spacecraft Bus Developed At NASA Ames, Smaller Version Of Which Will Be Used For Moon Express GLXP Mission

Image Credit: NASA

Wednesday / 21 August 2013

Students Getting Involved In LADEE Mission

StudentLADEE

LADEE Partnering With Lewis Center For Educational Research & NASA JPL To Provide Students Opportunity To Help Track & Monitor Status Of Spacecraft In Flight; Students Will Remotely Control 34-M Goldstone Apple Valley Radio Telescope From Their Classrooms To Determine Status & Position Of Craft; University Of Hawaii-Hilo Raising Funds To Send Intern Krystal Schlechter To Witness 6 Sep LADEE Launch From Wallops Flight Facility In VA

Image Credit: NASA, lewiscenter.org/gavrt/, imiloahawaii.org

 

 

Weekend Edition / Fri-Mon 16-19 Aug 2013

Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter: 4 Years & Counting

LRO4Years

Innovative NASA Moon Orbiter Completes 3 Years Of Its Extended Science Mission, Additional Extension Likely As Probe Has Delivered Unprecedented Amount Of Data / Images; LRO Has Orbited Moon Over 18,000 Times, Traveling Over 200M Km, Produced Over 434 Terabytes Of Data, Laser Altimeter Conducted Over 6B Topographic Measurements; LRO Expected To Continue To Send Back Data Until Oct 2014, Though Additional 2 Years Possible

Image Credit: NASA

Tuesday / 13 August 2013

Children / Families Invited To Learn About Lunar Communication

GoddardKids

Elementary School-Aged Children To Attend Free Afternoon At NASA Goddard SFC On 18 Aug To Learn How Space Agency Sends / Receives Data & How Deep Space Communication Is Advancing Through LLCD Experiment Launching Aboard LADEE On 6 Sep; Hands-on Activities Will Demonstrate Complications Of Accurate Laser Pointing Over Great Distances (Moon 384,400Km From Earth), Teach How To Tune-In To Correct Frequency Of Electromagnetic Spectrum

Image Credit: NASA