Category Archives: NASA

Tuesday / 17 March 2020

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NASA Artemis Human Lunar Landing In 2024 To Bypass Gateway 

New NASA Associate Administrator For Human Exploration And Operations Mission Directorate Doug Loverro Commits To Artemis Bypassing Lunar Orbital Gateway; Human Landing Goal In 2024 Will Be Critical Path; Canada, Japan And European Space Agencies, Maxar Technologies And Northrop Grumman Contributing To Gateway; NASA Selects Space Weather Instrument Suite And ESA-Built Radiation Instrument Package As First Science Experiments On Future Gateway Space Station; Lunar Orbit Seen As Important For Long-Term Sustainable Presence On Moon Surface

Credits: NASA

Friday / 13 March 2020

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University Teams Building SmallSat Demonstrations For Artemis 

NASA Small Spacecraft Technology Program Selects Nine University Teams For Small (<180 Kg) Satellite Demonstrations Supporting Artemis; Universities Will Receive Up To US$200K For Lunar Projects; Arizona State University Tempe Will Test Deployable Optical Receiver Aperture; University Of Colorado Boulder Will Build SmallSat Lunar Communications System In Collaboration With JPL; University Of California Irvine And University Of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Will Both Test Electrospray Thrusters; Future SmallSats Could Provide Communications And Navigation For The Moon

Credits: NASA

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 6-9 Mar 2020

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Artemis Mission Sequence Leading To Human Moon Landing In 2024

USA Administration And NASA Remain Committed To First Woman, Next Man On Surface Of Moon By 2024; Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle Nears Final Testing At Plum Brook Station; Space Launch System Core Stage Awaits Static Fire Testing At Stennis Space Center, Expected To Be Operational For Uncrewed Artemis I By Second Half Of 2021 Per Associate Administrator Steve Jurczyk; Artemis II Human Lunar Orbital Mission To Follow In 2022; Boeing And Blue Origin Under Consideration To Build Human Landing System For Artemis III In 2024

Credits: NASA

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 28 Feb – 2 Mar 2020

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Commercial Lunar Services Providers Enlisted For New Polar Rover

Commercial Lunar Payload Services 19C Proposals For Smaller Lander Mission Due First Week Of March; CLPS Providers Astrobotic And Intuitive Machines Building Landers For July 2021; NASA Seeking Bids From 14 CLPS Providers To Land New Rover At Moon Pole 2023; 350-Kg Volatiles Investigation Polar Exploration Rover Will Roam Several Kilometers For Up To 100 Days, Seek Water Ice With 4 Instruments Including One-Meter TRIDENT Drill; 19D Solicitation Expected To Follow, For Larger Cargo Landers Potentially To Moon Equator

Credits: NASA, Ceres Robotics

Friday / 28 February 2020

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CubeSats To Orbit Moon In 2021 To Prepare For Artemis 

NASA Small Spacecraft Technology Program Funds CubeSats For Moon; Lunar Flashlight Will Fly As Secondary Payload On Artemis-1; With Principal Investigator Barbara Cohen, Flashlight Will Examine Permanently Shadowed Regions Near South Pole For Water Ice Deposits; Rocket Lab Has Contract To Launch Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations And Navigation Experiment In 2021; 25-Kg CAPSTONE, Built By Tyvak Nano-Satellite Systems, Will Reach Near Rectilinear Halo Orbit As Precursor To Lunar Gateway

Credits: NASA, Rocket Lab

Friday / 21 February 2020

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Artemis Moon Enterprises Underway At Langley Research Center To Support 2024 Human Landings 

NASA Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, Continues Lunar Programs Following Visit By VP Pence Reaffirming Commitment To Artemis; Navigation Doppler LIDAR Being Developed At Langley Will Aid In Determining Exact Spacecraft Position During Landing; Langley Researches On-Orbit Servicing, Assembly And Manufacturing For Lunar Orbit Applications; Clayton Turner Is New Center Director And Jill Marlowe Is New Associate Center Director For Technical At Langley

Credits: NASA, Blue Origin

Tuesday / 18 February 2020

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  Permanently Shadowed South Polar Region Operations To Be Studied By Universities Under BIG Idea NASA Awards

NASA 2020 Breakthrough, Innovative And Game-Changing (BIG) Idea Challenge To Award Nearly USD$1M To Eight University Teams For Demonstrating Ways To Work In Moon’s Darkest Regions; MIT AeroAstro Team, Supervised By Astronaut Jeffrey Hoffman, Will Build 100-Kg Multifunctional Expandable Lunar Lite Tall Tower (MELLTT) To Extend 100 Feet From Lander; Northeastern University Will Build SCOUT Rover And DOGHOUSE Support Module; Concepts Will Be Designed To Operate In Permanently Shadowed Regions Near Lunar South Pole

Credits: NASA, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 14-17 Feb 2020

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New Race To Moon South Pole – Malapert Mountain

Multiple Nations And Commercial Enterprises Aiming For Lunar South Polar Region; Following CNSA Chang’e-5 Sample Return In 2020, Chang’e-6 And Chang’e-7 Will Explore South Pole; ISRO Chandrayaan-3, -4 and -5 Will Continue Polar Landing Goal Of Chandrayaan-2; SpaceX Promises Lunar Landings By 2022; NASA Commercial Lunar Payload Services May Carry Payloads Such As The International Lunar Observatory ILO-1 For Galaxy Imaging And Broadcasting From Malapert Mountain, One Of The Most Important And Valuable Sites In Solar System

Credits: NASA, CNSA, ISRO, SpaceX, ILOA

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 7-10 Feb 2020

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Aldrin Urges Timely Return To Moon While State Of Union Reaffirms Commitment To Artemis

Moonwalker Buzz Aldrin Urges America To “Dare Greatly” In Returning To Moon As Step Toward Mars, Emphasizes That “Time Does Matter” In Space; Following State Of Union Call To Fully Fund Artemis Program “To Ensure That The Next Man And First Woman On The Moon Will Be American” White House Will Request NASA Budget Boost, Perhaps US$3B; Administrator Bridenstine Will Focus On Moon To Mars Plans Monday 10 February At State Of NASA Events

Credits: NASA

Weekend Edition
Fri – Mon / 31 Jan – 3 Feb 2020

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Multipartisan Support Needed To Keep Artemis 2024 Lunar Landing Date

US House Subcommittee On Space And Aeronautics, Chaired By Kendra Horn, Proposes Bill H.R. 5666 Calling For Lunar Landing By 2028 Instead Of 2024; Bill Directs Creation Of Moon-Mars Program Office To Plan For Mars Landing In 2033; Space Community Expresses Alarm That Mars ‘Fantasy’ Could Indefinitely Delay Moon And Cislunar Development; Draft Bill Must Pass Full House Of Representatives And Negotiations With Senate, Which Has Already Approved Of Artemis First Women On the Moon

Credits: NASA, Lockheed Martin