Category Archives: Lunar Science

Friday / 26 May 2023

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Artemis Lunar Scientists and Operations Experts Brainstorm While Clive Neal Advances Lunar Resource Utilization

How best to meet goals outlined in Artemis 3 Science Definition Report within operational constraints (e.g., 8 hours of aggregate EVA time, up to 2 hours in PSR) being considered in series of collaborative USRA / LPI Lunar Surface Science Workshops; Niki Werkheiser, Anne Garber, Cindy Evans, Sarah Noble among NASA team members engaging in science operation architecture development with 180+ participants in latest LSSW 19 on Integrating Science into Artemis; Next LSSW on lunar mapping to be held Aug 16-17; May AIAA Space Resources Webinar hosted by Clive Neal on Immediate Next Steps Towards Using Lunar Resources to Sustain Human Exploration & Drive the Cislunar Economy to be available on YouTube

Credits: ESA

Tuesday / 23 May 2023

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New NASA-funded Research Center to Characterize Lunar Environment and Volatile Elements / Compounds

Biochemistry Professor Thomas Orlando of Georgia Tech to lead interdisciplinary Center for Lunar Environment and Volatile Exploration Research (CLEVER) under NASA SSERVI award (US$1.5M/yr over 5 years, $7.5M total) to investigate space weather interactions with volatiles (H2O, OH, O2, CH4, H), invaluable substances for sustained human life support and energy needs of crewed Moon surface missions during Artemis and beyond; Additional CLEVER contributors are affiliated with Johns Hopkins University APL, UCF, University of Hawaiʻi, NASA AMES and KSC; 4 other lunar science teams to receive similar grants

Credits: GT, NASA

Tuesday / 9 May 2023

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New Study Confirms Solid Core of Moon, Raises Questions on Disappearance of Magnetic Field

Utilizing Monte Carlo algorithmic modelling technique, drawing from Apollo seismic and GRAIL gravity field data, researchers at CNRS, Paris Observatory and other French institutions conclude Moon contains solid inner core ~516 km diameter with ~7,822 kg / m3, likely composed of Fe, representing ~15% relative to total size (by comparison, Earth’s inner core is ~20%); Findings concur with 2011 NASA study, and suggest mantle overturn activity as mechanism; Authors stress ramifications for ‘evolution of the Moon magnetic field’; Farside Seismic Suite to further investigate structure of Moon on Draper CLPS CP-12 mission lander NET 2025

Credits: Briaud, A., Ganino, C., Fienga, A. et al. The lunar solid inner core and the mantle overturn. Nature (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-023-05935-7; NASA
 

Friday / 5 May 2023

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Lunar Payload and Climate Science Ideas Sought for NASA Entrepreneurs Challenge 2023

NASA Entrepreneurs Challenge offering US$1M in prize money for innovative concepts in two areas: commercially viable lunar payloads and climate science achievable with small instruments and / or analysis of existing available data; Contest running on HeroX crowdsourcing platform, currently 179 innovators on 22 teams competing for round 1, in which 20 $16k prizes to be awarded 10 August; 8 organizational round 2 winners to receive $85k and access to pitch opportunity at Defense TechConnect Innovation Summit and Expo 28-30 Nov in Washington DC; SMD Strategy 4.1 on diversity and inclusion to be emphasized in contest

Credits: NASA
 

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 21-24 April 2023

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China Celebrates Space Day as Nation Works Towards Human Moon Landings Before 2030

400+ China Space Day events will be held throughout China, commemorating the launch of Dongfanghong-1 on 24 April 1970 and sharing the excitement of space exploration, especially the prospect of human Moon missions before the end of the decade lifted by Long March 10 (previously known as ‘921’ and ‘LM-5DY’) 3-core stage rocket, expected to make inaugural launch NET 2027 and / or a redesigned single-core stage, reusable Long March 9 launching NET 2030; A new-generation crew capsule and staged descent lander are planned to complete the ambitious plan

Pictured: CNSA Deputy Director of the Department of System Engineering Lyu Bo; Credits: CNSA, CLEP, AAAS, NASA

Tuesday / 4 April 2023

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2-Day Online Lunar Surface Science Workshop First Steps in a Bold New Era of Human Discovery to Consider Candidate Artemis III Landing Sites

Organized by (L-R) JSC planetary scientist Samuel Lawrence and Artemis 3 project scientist Noah Petro of GSFC, supported by LPI & USRA, LSSW 19 to showcase latest research into scientific viability of 13 prospective Artemis III landing sites within 6° of MSP; Comments to be given by NASA SMD Deputy Associate Administrator Sandra Connelly, SpaceX Director of Crew Starship engineering Eduardo Velazquez, Apollo 17 Astronaut Harrison Schmitt on 4 April; Sessions devoted to Malapert, DeGerlache, Haworth and DeGerlache-Kocher Massif, Faustini and Shackleton regions to be held 5 April

Credits: NASA, LinkedIn

Friday / 17 March 2023

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Artemis 3 & 4 Human Landing Missions Science Teams to be Lead by NASA’s Noah Petro and Barbara Cohen

Newly appointed science leads for Moon South Pole A-3 and 4 missions, Petro and Cohen, are set to become vital coordinators / voices for science teams, geology teams and payload teams – to maximize science during human return to Moon 2025-2027; Petro works with LRO & LEAG, will convene LSSW #19 Artemis 3 Landing Sites Workshop 4-5 April, and presented Mons Malapert advocacy at LSSW #12; Cohen is PI for Lunar Flashlight and Ion-Trap Mass Spectrometer (aboard Astrobotic Peregrine M1), works with LRO, Mars Science Laboratory

Credits: NASA, GSFC, Jay Friedlander

Tuesday / 14 March 2023

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LEAG Holding Town Hall Periphery Event at 54th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference

Interdisciplinary Lunar Exploration Analysis Group (LEAG), tasked with advising NASA HEOMD, SMD and NAC, to host hybrid Town Hall 16 March from 12:00-13:00 CDT at Houston-area convention center / online with Microsoft Teams; Presentations include Continuous Lunar Orbital Capabilities Specific Action Team Final Report from Paul Lucey (Hawai’i Institute of Geophysics & Planetology), Lunar Exploration and Science Orbiter from Michael Amato (NASA Exploration Science Strategy Integration Office), Joining The Moon And Mars Communities To A Common Goal by Clive Neal (University of Notre Dame) with Q&A to follow

Pictured (L-R):Amy Fagan, Erica Jawin, Paul Lucey, Michael Amato, Joel Kearns, Clive Neal; Credits: NASA, LinkedIn, Twitter / @NMNH, SSERVI, LPSC, LEAG, ND

Friday / 3 March 2023

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Moon Time Standardization May Advance International Cislunar Communication, Navigation Capabilities

Interoperable ‘LunaNet’ communication / navigation protocol initiative will require agreement on common time on & around Moon similar to Coordinated Universal Time on Earth & Earth orbit, per ESA statement; Standard Moon time would enable NASA Lunar Communications Relay and Navigation Systems, ESA Moonlight and other nodes in Moon network to share spatial measurement as with Earth-based International Terrestrial Reference Frame used by GNSS; Nature and composition of governing organization and whether to fix Moon time to Earth time or create independent local selenocentric system TBD by lunar stakeholders

Pictured: ESA Moonlight Navigation Manager Javier Ventura-Traveset, ESA Navigation Engineer Pietro Giordano; Credits: ESA, NASA, Twitter

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 24-27 Feb 2023

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International Moon Missions Operating in Lunar Orbit as Wave of Landers Approach / Prep for Launch

 NASA / Advanced Space CAPSTONE orbiter prepares for spacecraft-to-spacecraft positioning test with LRO; KPLO Danuri imaging heritage areas – first robotic Moon landing (Luna-9) site in Oceanus Procellarum, first lunar rover (Lunokhod 1) landing site in Mare Imbrium – and Earth phases; ispace progressing on ballistic lunar transfer, now moving at ~520 m/s, will soon begin control burns to decrease speed on approach, landing expected NET late April; JAXA SLIM launching NET April; Astrobotic Peregrine to launch on inaugural Vulcan Centaur flight NET 4 May; Intuitive Machines launching Nova-C NET late June

Pictured: ispace Spaceflight Operations Engineer Sam Richards; Credits: KARI, ispace, LinkedIn