Project Morpheus VTVL Autonomous Vehicle Recently Passed 80-Second Tethered Test (#28) At Johnson Spaceflight Center Houston TX; Expected To Be Shipped To Kennedy Space Center Cape Canaveral FL Soon To Perform Untethered Flight Test; Aug 2012 Untethered Test Destroyed Prototype Lander Seconds After Takeoff; Team Hopes 70 Adjustments / Upgrades To Vehicle & Ground Systems Will Result In Success
Image Credit: NASA
Elementary School-Aged Children To Attend Free Afternoon At NASA Goddard SFC On 18 Aug To Learn How Space Agency Sends / Receives Data & How Deep Space Communication Is Advancing Through LLCD Experiment Launching Aboard LADEE On 6 Sep; Hands-on Activities Will Demonstrate Complications Of Accurate Laser Pointing Over Great Distances (Moon 384,400Km From Earth), Teach How To Tune-In To Correct Frequency Of Electromagnetic Spectrum
Image Credit: NASA
Lunar Laser Communication Demonstration (LLCD) System Ready For Launch On LADEE Mission After Series Of Successful Ground Tests; ESA Observatory In Spain & 2 US Ground Terminals Will Relay Data To The Moon Orbiter At Unprecedented Rates (622 Mbps); Laser Wavelengths 10,000 Times Shorter Than Radio, Allowing For Reduction In Antenna Size – Lowering Mass, Volume, Power Requirements Of Future Space Missions; LADEE Launching 6 Sep 2013
Image Credit: NASA
NASA Lunar Science Institute In Mountain View CA Changes Name To Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Institute (SSERVI); Name Change Reflects Natural 21st Century Advance Of Human Exploration Goals, Building Out From Vital Well-Developed Cislunar Foundation To Include Vast Resources & Promising Research / Exploration / Human Settlement Potential Of Asteroids, Mars, Jupiter / Saturn Moons & Beyond
Image Credit: NASA
KARI President Seung-Jo Kim Visits Washington DC To Speak With NASA Head Charles Bolden About Potential Moon Mission Collaborations; S Korea Plans To Develop / Launch Lunar Orbiter By 2020 & Strontium-Powered 20-Kg Lunar Rover By 2025; NASA Wants To Redirect Asteroid To Lunar Orbit, Completes Internal Review Of Technical & Programmatic Concepts, Will Now Formulate Mission Baseline Concept
Image Credit: KARI, NASA
Lori Garver, NASA Deputy Administrator, Seems To Flip Flop On Previous Comments Re Moon Plans; Speaking At NewSpace 2013 Garver Says Asteroid & Moon Complimentary, Not Competitive Target Destinations; NASA Has “Increased Focus On Sustainable Lunar Activity”; Contrasted With Recent Comment That Agency Has No Funds For Lunar Activity; Likely Influenced By US House Republicans Calling For Sustained Human Presence On Both Moon & Mars
Image Credit: NASA
Two NASA Interplanetary Spacecraft Capture Images Of Earth-Moon System; MESSENGER Obtained Its Black & Whited Photos (R) From A Position Around Mercury (98 Million Km From Earth), While Cassini Used Acquired Color Images From A Vantage Point 1.5 Billion Km Away, Behind A Back-Lit Saturn; Images Demonstrate How Tiny Earth Is In Vastness Of Space, & Strategic Importance / Logic Of Developing Earth-Moon System As 1st Step In Human Expansion Into The Cosmos
Image Credit: NASA
US Space Agency Seeks Concepts For Industry-Developed Robotic Lander To Support Independent And / Or NASA Lunar Surface Missions As Early As 2018; NASA Not Offering Funds, Solely Technical Expertise, Use Of Test Facilities, Hardware / Software; Interested In Landers Capable Of Delivering Payloads Of 30-100kg & 250-450kg Range; Missions Of Interest Include Prospecting Volatiles At Lunar Poles, Sample Return; 2018 Mission Still Well After China Chang’e-3, 4, 5 (Inset) & Possibly Chang’e-6 Moon Landers.
Image Credit: NASA, CNSA
Astronaut Chris Cassidy Pilots NASA Rover For 3 Hours Across Mock Lunar Surface At Ames Research Center; Remotely Directed Robot Unfurled ‘Antenna Film’ Developed By Jack Burns / University Of Colorado Boulder Scientists For Lunar Farside Radio Telescope Mission Concept; Burns & Team Hope To See Rover / Radio Telescope Deployed By Similar Telerobotic Technique Via Orion Mission To Earth-Moon L2
Image Credit: NASA, lunar.colorado.edu
USA Historic Accomplishments On 20 July Make This Month Opportune Time To Advance Next Giant Leaps Into Galaxy; 1st Humans On Moon (Apollo 11 – 1969), 1st Spacecraft To Land On Another Planet (Viking 1 – 1976); To Reassert USA Leadership In Lunar / Solar System Exploration NASA Can Use Inspiration Of Space Month 2013 To Complement Bold Activities / Plans Of NewSpace Companies
Image Credit: NASA