Category Archives: NewSpace

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 24-27 March 2023

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NASA Office of Small Business Programs Recognizes Artemis Exploration Ground Systems Contributions

163 companies out of 800+ small-to-medium sized enterprises who worked to make Artemis 1 a reality and continue to support the ongoing effort to return humans to the Moon named in OSBP publication A Case for Small Business: Artemis I: Exploration Ground Systems; While EGS is based at KSC FL, businesses in 43 states assist operations; Report highlights Avatar Technologies (MD), Cimarron Software (TX), Craig Technologies (FL), Insight Global (CA), ProXopS (TX), Summit Technologies (FL) and Axiom Space (TX, recipient of US$228.5M Artemis spacesuit contract)

Credits: NASA / OSBP

Friday / 10 March 2023

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Farside Radio Astronomy to be Pioneered by LuSEE-Night CLPS Mission NET Late 2025

Landing near northern rim of Nassau crater on lunar farside (23.81°S, 176.83°E) on TBD commercial lander, Lunar Surface Electromagnetics Experiment-Night (LuSEE-Night) led by PI Stuart Bale (UC-Berkeley), co-investigator Jack Burns (CU Boulder) and DOE / Brookhaven National Lab is slated to be the first radio astronomy precursor to test low frequency detection limits (<50 MHz) in the pursuit of cosmological dark ages (380,000 years post-Big Bang) observation via 21-cm neutral hydrogen emissions; LuSEE-Night is to operate throughout lunar night / day cycle for up to 2 years thanks to 40-kg battery system

Pictured: PI Stuart Bale; Paul O’Connor, Anže Slosar, Sven Herrmann of Brookhaven Lab; Credits: DOE, NASA, UC-Berkeley, LinkedIn

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 24-27 Feb 2023

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International Moon Missions Operating in Lunar Orbit as Wave of Landers Approach / Prep for Launch

 NASA / Advanced Space CAPSTONE orbiter prepares for spacecraft-to-spacecraft positioning test with LRO; KPLO Danuri imaging heritage areas – first robotic Moon landing (Luna-9) site in Oceanus Procellarum, first lunar rover (Lunokhod 1) landing site in Mare Imbrium – and Earth phases; ispace progressing on ballistic lunar transfer, now moving at ~520 m/s, will soon begin control burns to decrease speed on approach, landing expected NET late April; JAXA SLIM launching NET April; Astrobotic Peregrine to launch on inaugural Vulcan Centaur flight NET 4 May; Intuitive Machines launching Nova-C NET late June

Pictured: ispace Spaceflight Operations Engineer Sam Richards; Credits: KARI, ispace, LinkedIn

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 17-20 Feb 2023

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Companies Race to Develop and Deploy ISRU Techniques to Extract Building Materials and Oxygen on Moon

Blue Origin is latest entrant in effort to establish manufacturing processes for lunar buildout with Blue Alchemist molten regolith electrolysis extraction of Fe, Al, Si / PV cell & wire printing; Lunar Resources of Houston TX plans FarView Observatory construction via molten oxide electrolysis and is conducting 9-month NIAC feasibility study of MSP pipeline to deliver oxygen gas byproduct; ESA working to develop molten salt electrolysis with Metalysis of UK; Helios of Israel working with Eta Space of Florida on similar system; CO School of Mines to gather lunar prospectors 6-9 June at Lunar Resources Roundtable in Golden

Credits: Blue Origin, NASA, Lunar Resources, Helios, Metalysis

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 10-13 Feb 2023

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Independent / Commercial and National Moon Missions Working to Join Chang’E-3 & 4 Operating on Lunar Surface

ispace striving to conduct 1st commercial activity on Moon with landing of Hakuto-R, collection of regolith under US$5,000 NASA contract; ispace Lead Spaceflight Operations Engineer Angel Milagro updates on M1 progress (now 1,200,000 km from Earth), on track for April landing; JAXA SLIM launching NET April to Shioli crater; Ars Technica forecasts Astrobotic launch to Gruithuisen Domes NET May; ISRO Chandrayaan-3 targeting plain between Manzinus N and U craters NET June; Intuitive Machines launching to MSP on SpaceX F9 NET late June; Roscosmos Luna-25 may launch to Boguslawsky crater NET July

Credits: ispace, JAXA, IM, Astrobotic, LinkedIn

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 3-6 Feb 2023

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International Wave of Robotic Moon Missions Prepare for Launch, Landing, Lunar Surface Exploration and Science

12 spacecraft currently operate in cislunar space, 2 landers (CE-3, 4) and 1 rover (Yutu-2) function on the lunar surface; 6 lander missions prepare to join: ispace HAKUTO-R now ~1,300,000 km from Earth, due to arrive NET April; JAXA SLIM with LEV-2 demonstrator payload may follow NET April; Astrobotic with Peregrine lander awaits ULA Vulcan Centaur readiness for engine and launch vehicle integration, launch NET Q1 – PM1 now targeting silica-rich Gruithuisen Domes (Mons Gruithuisen Gamma / Mons Gruithuisen Delta) at ~36°N x 40°W; Intuitive Machines Nova-C launching to 3-6 day direct transit in H1; Chandrayaan-3 NET June; Roscosmos Luna-25 NET July

Credits: NASA, ispace, Astrobotic

Tuesday / 17 Jan 2023

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3 Commercial Moon Landers: ispace Hakuto-R, Astrobotic Peregrine, Intuitive Machines Nova-C

First wave of independent Moon missions (following SpaceIL Beresheet attempt 2019) targeting lunar surface are underway / preparing for launch including ispace Mission 1 with Hakuto-R nearing furthest point from Earth (1,400,000 km) on ~5 month low-energy trajectory NET 20 Jan; Astrobotic Peregrine Mission 1 to make 7-58 day transit (3-33 cruise + 4-25 lunar orbit, dependent on launch date) NET Q1 on ULA Vulcan Centaur rocket, currently en route from Decatur AL via Mississippi barge to CCSFS; Intuitive Machines IM-1 to launch on SpaceX F9 from KSC also NET Q1 on ~6-day direct transfer

Credits: ispace, IM, Astrobotic, NASA

Tuesday / 3 Jan 2022

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ispace HAKUTO-R Mission 1 Lunar Lander on Stable Course to Moon as 3rd Trajectory Burn Approaches

~1,250,000 km from Earth, HAKUTO-R maintaining nominal trajectory on fuel efficient path to Moon following 2nd correction maneuver 2 Jan with 3rd possibly to be conducted as craft reaches farthest point of journey (1,400,000 km) NET 20 Jan; ‘Milestone 5’ to be reached at 1-month of operations date (Jan 11); Innovative SORA-Q spheroid rover among payloads on M1 – designed by Doshisha University & Takara Tomy toy company with Sony dev board / Arm processor core for JAXA; SORA-Q to collect data on locomotion in 1/6 G for future human-capable pressurized lunar vehicle

Pictured: Yosuke Yoneda, Kenta Hashiba of TOMY Company; Credits: ispace, Takara Tomy, JAXA

New Year Holiday Edition
Fri-Mon / 23 Dec 2022 – 2 Jan 2023

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2023 Moon Roster Full of Independent and National Touchdowns Following 2022 Orbital Activity

At least 6 attempts to robotically land on the lunar surface are slated for 2023, after a year that saw Capstone DRHO insertion, Danuri near 100 x 100 km desired polar orbit (refining current 109 x 8920 km via 4 additional orbital maneuvers), Artemis 1 flyby / DRO; Hakuto launched on Dec 11 as Orion splashed down, now on 1-month cruise to next TCM targeting April landing; Landers Nova-C and Peregrine launching NET Q1, SLIM April, Chandrayaan-3 June, Luna-25 July, while Chang’E-3 lander / LUT, Chang’E-4 Yutu-2 rover continue only current operations on Moon

Credits: NASA, ispace, IM, Astrobotic, ISRO

Friday / 16 Dec 2022

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Hakuto-R Lander en Route to Moon as ispace Mission Control Works to Check Out Commercial Payloads

ispace Mission 1 is progressing nominally, with Hakuto-R spacecraft now ~550,000 km from Earth on low-energy cislunar transfer trajectory following completion of first orbit control maneuver – milestone 4 in mission profile; Milestone 3 partially complete with communications and data transfer of 2 Earth images (1 taken by Canadensys camera, 1 by ispace camera) accomplished while payload checks are ongoing; Hakuto-R is to cruise for ~1 month, reaching a distance of 1,400,000 km by 20 January, at which time another maneuver will begin 2-3 month return to lunar orbit

Credits: ispace, Canadensys