Category Archives: NASA

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 27-30 May 2016

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6 Current Moon Craft Operated Solely By China And NASA

China NASA 2016 Moon Craft

2017 Brings Hope For 1st Commercial Moon Missions, India Chandrayaan-2 & China Chang’e-5 Sample Return, While NASA LRO Continues Collecting Data On Lunar Poles, New Surface Features – Will Enter 8th Year At Moon 23 June, Data Release #26 Upcoming; NASA ARTEMIS 1 & 2 Studying Moon Plasma Wake & Solar Wind Interactions, To Enter 6th Year At Moon In July; China Chang’e-3 Lander & Yutu Rover At Guang Han Gong, 44.12°N 19.51°W To Celebrate Start Of 4th Year On Surface 14 Dec; Chang’e-5T1 Service Module Almost 17 Months In Orbit, Continues Observations / Tests For Future Landing Missions

Credit: NASA, GSFC, CNSA, CSA, NAOC, CCTV

Wednesday / 25 May 2016

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Moon In Focus As Lawmakers Push NASA Toward Lunar Landings, Reject Asteroid Redirect Mission

LED-5-24-16

Scientists, Engineers And Administrators At NASA Are Preparing For Tidal Shift As USA House Of Representatives Calls For Return To Moon To Refine Capabilities Including Landing, Ascent, Habitation, And Prospecting; Budget Committee Draft Bill Cites Moon Development As Best Strategy For Sustainable Future Mars Exploration; ‘The House’ Is A Legislative Body Made Up Of 434 Voting Members Elected To Represent Each State Proportionally To Its Population

Credit: House.gov, NASA

Wednesday / 18 May 2016

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Dutch Study Tests Vegetable Growth With Moon, Mars Soil Simulants

LED-5-17-16

Lunar Soil Simulant Being Tested As Grow Medium For Tomatoes, Peas, Rye, Radishes, Cress, Arugula By Agricultural Researchers At Wageningen University, Netherlands; Ecologist Dr. Wieger Wamelink Notes 1st Attempt Most Plants Died In Moon Dirt Due To Low Water Absorption, Adding Fresh Cut Grass Allowed Plants To Thrive; Risk Of Heavy Metal Contamination Could Be Mitigated By Growing Violets, Other Species That Take In Toxins; Soil Analogs Sourced From Arizona Desert (Moon) And Hawaii Volcano (Mars) Via NASA At Cost Of US$3,080 Per 100kg

Credit: Wageningen UR, NASA

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 13-16 May 2016

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LRO Greatly Advancing Lunar Knowledge, Up For 2 Year Extension In September

LED-5-13-16

In Moon Orbit Longer Than Any Other Spacecraft LRO Continues Intensive Study From Highly Elliptical Path Flying As Low As 20km Over South Pole Every 117.2 Minutes; Noah Petro (Lunar Geologist) Studying Evolution Of Moon Today And Over Last Billion Years And John Keller (LRO Project Scientist) Examining Polar-Crater Water-Ice Deposits, Both At NASA GSFC, Are Among Thousands Of Scientists Worldwide Who Pour Over Data Releases From 7 Onboard Instruments; Project Team Has Requested Extension From NASA

Credit: GSFC, NASA

Wednesday / 11 May 2016

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Europe Focuses On Lunar Exploration And Moon Village

4th European Lunar Symposium 18-19 May At The Dutch Royal Academy Of Arts And Sciences, Amsterdam (TR), The Netherlands Is Co-Organized By NASA SSERVI; Inaugural Lecture On LRO ‘Seven Years Exploring The Moon’; A “Moon Village” Workshop Occurs At Nearby ESTEC (BL) 19-20 May To Expand, Enhance And Refine This Primary Initiative Of ESA Director General Jan Woerner Who Is Determined To Help Establish A Permanent International Outpost At Moon As Next Major Step For Global Space Endeavor Beyond ISS

Credit: SSERVI, NASA, ESA, ESTEC

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