Category Archives: NASA

Friday / 6 May 2016

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Two Conferences Supporting Moon, Mars, & Asteroids Investigate Opportunities

Two ConferencesStimulating Renewed Support In Moon / Space Activities Two Conferences Moving Into Year 8 Scheduled To Address: Lunar Exploration & Enterprise, Solar System, Near Earth Asteroids; 7-9 June Golden Colorado School Of Mines To Host  SRR, PTMSS & LPI With PISCES Rob Kelso Discussing ISRU Construction – Lunar Launch/Landing Pad; Ames Research Center Holding Annual Lunar & Small Bodies Graduate Conference (LunGradCon 2016) In Mountain View California 19 July; NASA SSERVI Topics To Include Missions & Human Exploration

Credit: SRR, PTMSS, LPI, NASA, SSERVI, PISCES

Friday / 22 April 2016

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LRO Providing Critical Information & Inspiration For New Wave Of Lunar Progress

LED-4-21-16

Flying 20 Km Over South Pole, 165k Km Over North Pole In Elliptical Orbit; LRO Providing Highest Resolution Data Ever, At A Rate Of ~440 Gigabits Image Data Per Day; Thomas R. Watters, LRO Co-Investigator And Senior Scientist At Smithsonian NASM, Notes The Narrow Angle Camera Instrument Alone Has Returned Well Over 1 Million Images, “More Digital Data Than Every Other Planetary Mission”; Resurgence Of Lunar Interest For National Space Agencies, Commercial Enterprises, Individuals Across The Globe

Credit: NASA.

Friday / 15 April 2016

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2016 Lunar Conferences Head Into July Moon Landing Observation / Lunar High Tide 

Lunar Conferences 2016

 New Views Of The Moon 2 To Be Held At LPI / USRA, Houston TX 24-26 May, Covering New Data From Missions, Sample Analyses & Earth-Based Observations Of The Moon Made This Century; 2016 SRR/PTMSS At Colorado School Of Mines, Golden CO 7-9 June, Will Cover In-Situ Resource Utilization Of Lunar, Asteroid, Mars Resources; 3rd Annual Exploration Science Forum (ESF 2016) Hosted By SSERVI, NASA Ames, Mt View CA 20-22 July, Will Feature Scientific Discussions Of Human Exploration Of The Moon, NEAs, Moons Of Mars, Recent Mission Results & In-Depth Analyses Of Science & Exploration Studies

Credit: LPI, USRA, SRR/PTMSS, SSERVI, NASA

Friday / 8 April 2016

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ISRO On Track To Launch Indigenous Chandrayaan-2 Three-Craft Mission To Moon Late 2017 / Early 2018

ISRO chandrayaan 2

Chandrayaan-2 Orbiter, Lander, Rover To Be Launched Via GSLV-Mk 2 December 2017 Or Early 2018 To Observe / Perform Mineralogical & Elemental Studies Of Lunar Surface; Mission Allocated US$91 Million; 1,400-kg Orbiter With 5 Science Instruments Including Camera, 3 Spectrometers & Radar To Fly At 200-km Altitude; 20-kg Rover To Have 2 Spectroscopes & HD Video Camera; 1,250 kg Lander To Contain Ka-band Altimeter, HD Video Camera, Position & Hazard Detection / Avoidance Cameras; NASA May Provide Deep Space Network Communication Services

Credit: ISRO

Friday / 11 March 2016

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Teams Developing LunarCubes, Interplanetary CubeSats & SLS Moon Sat Missions

LunarCubes2016

Advancing Low-Cost, High-Return CubeSat Technologies Highlighted In Upcoming Events: Flexure Engineering 6th International Workshop On LunarCubes 28-29 Sep In Conjunction With 6th International Workshop On Lunar Surface Applications, CubeSat Developer’s Workshop 20-22 Apr, 5th Interplanetary CubeSat Workshop 24-25 May; SLS To Carry At Least 4 Lunar CubeSats In 2018 – Winner Of NASA ‘Cube Quest Challenge’ Will Be Announced End Of Mar & Join EM-1 Lunar Flyby Mission

Credit: Flexure Engineering, NASA, Morehead State University

Friday / 5 February 2016

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KSC Investments Promising For Moon,
Space Access

KSC ME Blue Origin

Space Florida Approves Funding For KSC Improvements With Blue Origin (US$26.4M), Moon Express (US$1.6M), CASIS ($1.1M); Blue Origin – With Ultimate Goal Of Launching Humans / Cargo Into Space – Will Operate At Launch Complex 36; Moon Express Testing MTV-1 Lunar Lander, Will Build MTV-2 & MTV-3, Operate From Complexes 17 & 18, Working Under Lunar CATALYST Agreement, Planning To Launch To Moon 2017 Via Rocket Lab; Other Unnamed NewSpace Companies Interested In KSC May Invest $80M+ In Historic Moon Mission Launch Site

Credit: Moon Express, Mike Brown/Space Florida

New Year / Holiday Edition
Fri / 18 Dec 2015 – Mon / 4 Jan 2016

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New Earthrise Photo From Moon Reaffirms Human Achievements & Prompts Next Steps Looking, Heading Into Milky Way Galaxy

12192015_2Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) Continues To Gather Invaluable Data Solidifying Human Quest To Explore & Discover More About Earth, Moon, Solar System, Galaxy & Beyond; Photo Pays Tribute To Image Taken During Apollo 8 In Lunar Orbit On 24 Dec 1968 By Astronaut Anders; Composite Of Images Taken With LRO High-Resolution Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) In B&W Along With Wide Angle Camera (WAC) In Color ~134km Above Moon Farside Compton Crater While Traveling 1,600 Meters Per Second (Relative To The Lunar Surface); LRO Scheduled To Continue Through 2017; After Decades Of Viewing Earth From Moon, Next Inspiration Should Come From The Galaxy And Our Future Among The Stars

Pictured: Apollo 8 Crew (L-R) James A. Lovell Jr., command module pilot; William A. Anders, lunar module pilot; and Frank Borman, commander.

Credit: NASA

Friday / 4 December 2015

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SSERVI-Hosted Lunar Workshop Discusses Permanently Shadowed Regions Regolith, Effects On Rovers & Volatiles

Lunar Volatiles

Six-Hour Virtual Workshop Held Yesterday, Featuring Dr. David Kring (R) PI At Center For Lunar Science & Exploration And Brad Bailey (L) Staff Scientist SSERVI, Sought To Collect Data On Potential Trafficability Issues Rovers Can Face In PSRs; Proposed Resource Prospector With RESOLVE Payload Would Map Polar Surface & Subsurface Hydrogen, Extract O2 From Regolith & Process With Hydrogen To Make H2O For Life Support Or Propellant – Could Launch 2018 & Involve Canada Or Japan Collaboration; Lunar Flashlight CubeSat To Locate Volatiles May Launch Dec 2017 On SLS EM-1

Credit: NASA, SSERVI, LPI, Center for Lunar Science & Exploration, GSFC, SVS

Thursday / 3 December 2015

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Hawai`i Based PISCES Seeks Emergency Funds To Continue Moon & Deep Space Research Programs

1232015An Urgent Request To Hawaii Gov. Ige (R) To Appropriate Funds Of US$670k For Salaries To Pacific International Space Center For Exploration Systems (PISCES) FY 2016 (Jul ’15 – Jun ’16) Currently Being Deliberated; PISCES Director Rob Kelso (L) States Organization Will Continue To Operate Normally Until The End Of The Calendar Year 2015 But Without Approval “We Are Out Of Business After June”; PISCES MoonRIDERS (Research Investigating Dust Expulsion Removal Systems) Joint Partnership With NASA Kennedy Space Center & Google Lunar XPRIZE Electrodynamic Dust Shield (EDS) Technology With High School Participants Kealakehe & Iolani Hope For Approval To Continue Hawaii High-Tech Advancement

Credit: PISCES, UH Hilo, State of Hawaii

Wednesday / 2 December 2015

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Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) Delivering Four Billion Measurements And Counting

1222015In Year 7, LRO Continues To Provide Information Useful For Decades Of Future Human Exploration; LRO Deputy PI Benjamin Greenhagen Comments “We Honor The Moon As A Global Scientific Legacy”; Data Reveals 5 Key Lessons According To B. Dorminey (Forbes Article): Recent Volcanic Activity Confirmed By Interior Temperature & Cooling Implies Moon Is Likely Still Tectonically Active; Lunar Surface Shows Extreme Temperature Variations Of –247 °C In Permanently Shadowed Regions To +123 °C In Areas Exposed To Up To 243 Consecutive Days Of Sunlight; Moon May Hold Water / Other Volatiles Useful For Life-Support As Well As Other Resource Utilization Potentials; Moon South Pole Aitken Basin Offers Potential Samples Of Lunar Rock Originating From Interior Mantle; LRO Radiation Measurements Could Help Minimize Future Human Moon & Deep Space Exploration Hazards

Credit: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, LRO, LPI