Annual Event Inspired By NASA LRO Mission Set For Saturday 22 Sep; Over 250 Events Scheduled In Over 40 Countries; Telescopes & Educational Lectures / Materials Provided To Moon-Gazers At Local Events; This Year InOMN Event Dedicated To Memory Of Neil Armstrong; Organizers Hope To Instill Public Sense Of Wonder & Curiosity About Moon While Imparting Recent Lunar Discoveries
Image Credit: Huntsville Times, NASA
As The Surviving Apollo 11 Moonworker, Doc Rendezvous Now Carries Torch As First (Living) Human To Have Walked On Moon; Aldrin Will Make Public Appearance With Other Astronauts / Cosmonauts & Notable NASA Mission Controllers At Seattle Museum Of Flight’s Charles Simonyi Space Gallery On Sunday 23 Sep
Image Credit: Sean Gallop, nasa.gov
Chang’e-3, First China Lunar Surface Vehicle Will Employ Nuclear Power Supply Fueled By Plutonium 238, Making China 3rd Country After USA & Russia To Use Nuclear Energy In Space Exploration; Fuel Cells Developed By China Institute Of Atomic Energy; Chief Lunar Scientist Ziyuan Ouyang Says Fuel Cells Will Play Increasingly Important Role In Future China Deep Space Exploration
Image Credit: CIAE, CNSA, cas.cn
Ouliang Chang Of USC Viterbi School Of Engineering Outlines Plan For Deployment Of Supercomputer & Accompanying Radio Dishes On Moon To Ease Load On Terrestrial Mission Control, Provide Computational Power For 1st Phase Of Lunar Industrial / Settlement Development; Polar Location To Avoid Drastic Temperature Swings, Access To Water Ice For Cooling; Dishes Could Also Be Used For Very-Long-Baseline Interferometry
Image Credit: NASA
Lunar COTS Petition Founded By Doug Plata Gaining Momentum As NASA Commercial Crew & Cargo Program Manager Alan Lindenmoyer (L) Suggests Using Successful COTS Model Elsewhere In NASA; Lunar COTS Would Establish Programs To Support Commercial Cis-lunar Transportation Service, Lunar Surface Operations, Harvesting Lunar Polar Ice, Orbital Propellant & Servicing Depots, Initial Crewed Lunar Base
Image Credit: NASA
Lori Garver, NASA Deputy Administrator, Confirms Ambitious USA Plans To Return To Moon During Speech At AIAA Conference In Pasadena, CA; Uncrewed Mission Scheduled For 2017, Human Orbital Mission By 2021; NASA Report To US Congress Outlines Plan For “Nearly Self-Sustaining Surface Habitat” On Moon For Long-Duration Astronaut Missions, Capable Of Extracting Oxygen, Water, Silicon, Etc In Situ
Image Credit: NASA, Stephan Wlodarczyk
50th Anniversary Of JFK “We Choose To Go To The Moon” Speech Commemorated As Man Who Took That Giant Leap Is Memorialized In Washington DC; NASA TV Will Broadcast Public Memorial Of Neil Armstrong Today 10:00 EDT; Support Growing For 20 July Federal ‘Exploration Day’ Holiday; 100-Year Starship Event Underway In Houston TX Projecting Human Interstellar Travel Within Next 100 Years
Image Credit: NASA, 100yss.org
Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin Says Russia Should Set ‘Super Goal’ Of Building Large Base On Moon To Refocus Space Industry; Base Could Facilitate Leaps Of Science & Future Deep Space Projects; Possible Collaboration With USA / ESA; Moon Is Seen As Logical Next Step For Russia Exploration As Mars Is “Too Far And Too Expensive”
Image Credit: Roscosmos, wn.com
Program & Abstracts Now Available For 22-24 Oct 2012 LEAG Annual Meeting In Greenbelt Maryland; Presentations / Discussions On Science Objectives, Robotic Human Exploration Strategies & Technologies, Moon As Necessary Stepping Stone To Rest Of Solar System; Organizers Plan To Celebrate Apollo Legacy 40 Years After Apollo 17, Look Forward To Next Generation Of Lunar Missions; Pictured (BC): LEAG Chair Charles Shearer
Image Credit: LPI, NASA, University of New Mexico
Extended Science Phase Of GRAIL Mission From 30 Aug – 3 Dec; Spacecraft Will Take Even Closer Look At Lunar Gravity Field By Dropping To Average Orbit Of 23km (Compared To 55-km Orbit On Primary Mission); Objective Of NASA Mission Is To Generate The Most Accurate Gravity Map Of Moon & From That Derive Its Internal Structure / Evolution
Image Credit: NASA