Category Archives: South Pole Moon

Friday / 12 July 2019

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Chandrayaan-2 Counts Down To First Lunar South Polar Region Landing

Chandrayaan-2 In Countdown To Launch 15 July From Satish Dhawan Space Center Atop Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mark III; First South Pole Region Landing And First India Soft-Landing Planned 6 Sep Between Manzinus C and Simpellius N Craters At 70° S Latitude; 2,380-kg Orbiter, 1,470-kg Lander And 27-kg Rover Carry 14 Science Payloads; Orbiter Is Expected To Operate One Year While Vikram Lander And Pragyan Rover Have Design Lifetime Of 15 Days On Surface; US$143M Budget Is Less Than Summer Movie

Credits: ISRO

Monday / 1 July 2019

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ILOA Request For Information: To Land ILO-2, As Backup For ILO-1, On Malapert Mt Or Shackleton Rim, Asap

International Lunar Observatory Association Requesting Information From Potential Lunar Lander Payload Providers To Deliver ILO-1 Instrument And / Or ILO-2 Backup To Malapert Mountain Near Moon South Pole As Early As 2021; ILO-1 Instruments Are Being Developed With Canadensys Aerospace Corporation To Perform Astronomy From The Moon, Observations And Communications; Flight-Ready ~1 Kg Instrument May Be Delivered As Primary Or Co-Payload; Entities With Active Interest In South Pole Include Canada, India, China, Southeast Asia, Europe, Japan, Korea, South America, Africa, Crescent Moon Countries, USA And Many Independent Enterprises

Credits: NASA, ILOA

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 31 May – 3 June 2019

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India Chandrayaan-2 Aims for Moon South Pole with 14 Science Payloads: 8 Orbiter, 4 Lander, 2 Rover

India Chandrayaan-2, Named For Moon Deity Chandra, Aims For First Landing In Lunar South Polar Region; Indian Space Research Organization Schedules Launch For 9-16 July And Landing ~6 Sep; ISRO Chairman K. Sivan States, “When Nobody Has Gone Near That Area, Some New Science Might Be There” About South Pole; Orbiter, ‘Vikram’ Lander And ‘Pragyan’ Rover Will Carry 14 Payloads Including Spectrometers, Solar X-ray Monitor, Radar, Seismometer And NASA Laser Retroreflector

Credits: ISRO

Tuesday / 21 May 2019

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PRC Space Experts Note USA Artemis News 

Zhongguo China National Space Agency Experts Respond To USA Artemis Program; Chang’e-6 And Chang’e-7 Planned To Land At South Pole; Senior Scientist Ye Peijian (R) Says “Children Will Blame Us” If We Can Go To The Moon But Fail To Act; Pang Zhihao States That Lunar Base Can Be Used For Science Including Astronomy; Wu Weiren (L) Chief Architect Of Lunar Exploration Project, States That Chinese Footprints Will Be On Moon In About 10 Years

Credits: Xinhua News, CNSA

Tuesday / 7 May 2019

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Chandrayaan-2 Planned For July Launch To Moon South Pole Region 

Indian Space Research Organization Chief K Sivan States Chandrayaan-2 To Launch Between 9 July And 16 July For Landing 6 Sep; Will Be Carried By Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mark III; First Mission To South Polar Region Will Land Between Manzinus C And Simpelius N Craters At 70° S Latitude; Times Of India Newspaper Reports That Only Orbiter Is Ready For Flight; Vikram Lander And Pragyan Rover Are Testing At Lunar Terrain Facility In Byalalu

Credits: ISRO, NASA

Tuesday / 30 Apr 2019

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NASA Plans South Pole Lunar Base In Parallel With Blue Origin 

USA National Space Council Leader Scott Pace (L) Says Lunar Base Is Part Of Sustainable Exploration Plan; Space Launch System May Undergo 4-Engine Static Test At Stennis Space Center, Potentially Delaying First Uncrewed EM-1 Flight To 2021; Exploration Chief Bill Gerstenmaier Calculates That SLS Crewed EM-2 May Still Occur In 2022 And Human Lunar Landing In 2024; Blue Origin Signs Contract For Unused Apollo-Era Test Stands, Hints At 9 May Announcement About ‘Endurance’ And Shackleton Crater At South Pole

Credits: NASA

Thursday / 25 Apr 2019

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Space Day China Looks Forward To Lunar South Pole Within 10 Years

National Day Of Space Flight Meetings Are In Changsha 24 April, 49th Observation Of Dongfanghong-1, First Zhongguo Artificial Satellite; Theme Is “Pursue Space Dream For Win-Win Cooperation” With International Partners Contributing Science Experiments To Chang’e-4 And Queqiao Orbiter; Chang’e-4 Returns More Images Of Lunar Far Side While Chang’e-5 Is Planned For Late 2019; China National Space Administration Head Zhang Kejian (R), One Of Time Magazine’s 100 Influential People, Announces Plans To Build Research Station On Lunar South Pole Within 10 Years

Credits: CNSA, Space Day, Xinhua News, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 29 Mar – 1 Apr 2019

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Moon By 2024 Goal Will Call Upon Resources Including International Partners

Administrator Jim Bridenstine Hosts NASA Town Hall 1 April On USA Moon To Mars Plans, Including Human Return To Lunar Surface By 2024; VP Mike Pence Explicit Directive To Reach Moon “By Any Means Necessary” Invites Military Comparisons; Pence Challenges Government, Private Industry And Entire Space Enterprise To Reach Lunar South Pole; National Space Council Reiterates Space Policy Directive 1 To Involve Current And Future International And Commercial Partnerships; Orion Service Modules For Lunar Missions Will Be Built In Europe

Credits: NASA, Lockheed Martin

Friday / 29 Mar 2019

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Lunar Base Radio Astronomy From Far Side And South Pole

Radio Observation From Lunar Far Side, Sheltered From Earthly Radio Noise, Continues To Be International Astronomy Goal; Netherlands-China Low-Frequency Explorer (NCLE) With Three 5-meter Radio Antennae Near Earth-Moon L2 Point Above Lunar Far Side Will Begin Operation In April When Chang’e-4 Lander At Statio Tianhe (Milky Way) Base Finishes Primary Mission; Lunar South Pole Is Goal Of Both USA And International Lunar Observatory Association; ILO-1 Antenna Dish Will Be On ~5-km Malapert Mountain

Credits: ILOA, NAOC, NASA

Tuesday / 15 Jan 2019

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China Announces Exploration Program With Chang’e-6, 7 And 8

While Chang’e-4 (L) Will Measure Temperatures During The 14-Day Lunar Night, China CNSA Officially Announces More Moon Missions; Long March 5 Booster (R) Will Return To Flight NET 31 March With Launch Of Shijian-20 Communications Platform From Wenchang Satellite Launch Center On Hainan Island; Chang’e-5 Sample Return Launch On Long March 5 From Wenchang Is Planned Before End Of 2019; Chang’e-6 Is Slated To Return Samples From Lunar South Pole; Chang’e-7 Will Tentatively Conduct Survey Of South Polar Region; Chang’e-8 Will Test Technologies For Lunar Base And Future Human Activities On Moon

Credits: CNSA