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

Friday / 10 Feb 2023

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Capstone Lunar Orbit Pathfinder Team Attempting to Establish 2-Way Communication / Navigation Link with LRO

Led by Advanced Space, Capstone mission on 13th orbit of Moon, will soon exceed 3 months in 1,500 x 75,000-km near-rectilinear halo orbit (NRHO), the intended path of Lunar Gateway human waystation (launching NET Nov 2024); The Terran Orbital-built 6U CubeSat has ~56% fuel (120 m/s ΔV) remaining, on track to surpass 6-month goal in orbit following 11-day command loss / recovery; Team working to validate spacecraft-to-spacecraft navigation tech demonstration Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System with LRO, and attempt stand-alone navigation with Chip Scale Atomic Clock measurement of DSN radio signal

Pictured: Advanced Space CEO Bradley Cheetham; Credits: Advanced Space, NASA, Terran Orbital

Tuesday / 7 Feb 2023

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Artemis 2 ‘Mega Moon Rocket’ Construction on Track for 2024 Crewed Mission as SpaceX Starship Preps for Orbital Test

Build of next NASA Moonship advances with Artemis 2 SLS core stage nearing completion / integration with 4 Aerojet Rocketdyne RS-25 engines at Michoud Assembly Facility; Sets of SRBs for Artemis 2 & 3 await vehicle readiness at Utah Northrop Grumman plant; Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage (ICPS) in final assembly at Florida ULA factory; Orion European Service Module build progressing at KSC Neil Armstrong Building with acoustic tests slated for spring; Orbital test of Starship, the SpaceX vehicle planned to land Astronauts on the Moon (NLT 4 July 2026) may launch orbital test in March if imminent static fire of 33-Raptor engine Super Heavy prototype is successful

Credits: NASA, SpaceX

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

Friday / 3 Feb 2023

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India and USA Advance Cooperation on Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS), Human Spaceflight, Space Science

Several areas of space collaboration between nations to be nurtured following first meeting of U.S.-India initiative on Critical and Emerging Technology (iCET) in Washington DC: CLPS providers to meet with India commercial space companies to identify partnership opportunities; Astronaut exchange will see an ISRO astronaut undergoing training at JSC; Purview of Professional Engineer & Scientist Exchange Program to include space science; U.S. Commerce and India Space departments to lead commercial working group; iCET to solidify details at next meeting in New Delhi within 2023

Pictured: USA National Security Advisor Jacob Sullivan, India National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, Ambassador to the US Taranjit Singh Sandhu, Scientific Advisor to the Prime Minister Ajay Kumar Sood, ISRO Chairman S Somanath; Credits: @IndianEmbassyUS via Twitter

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 27-30 Jan 2023

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CNSA Continues Exploration and Science on the Surface of Moon as Phase 4 of Chang’E Program to Begin NET 2024

Chang’e-4 Moon Lander and Yutu-2 (‘Jade Rabbit’) rover are again busy gathering data / traversing the lunar surface following 16 and 15 Jan activation commands marking start of their 51st lunar day (equivalent to 1,479 Earth days); Yutu-2 has traveled 1,455-m; As Queqiao (‘Magpie Bridge’) replay satellite nears end of 5-year mission life in June, Queqiao-2 with 8-year lifespan being prepared for launch in early 2024, an essential communication link for farside SPA sample-return mission Chang’E-6 NET 2024, MSP CE-7 NET 2026, and CE-8 NET 2028

Pictured: Chang’E-7 Deputy Chief Designer Tang Yuhua (T), CLEP Phase 3 Deputy Chief Designer Li Chunlai (B); Credits: CNSA / CLEP, CCTV via Inside Outer Space, IAF

Friday / 27 Jan 2023

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13 Proposed Artemis III Landing Sites to be Scrutinized at Virtual Lunar Surface Science Workshop (LSSW)

With institutional support from LPI, USRA, NASA / convened by Samuel Lawrence (JSC) and Noah Petro (GSFC), LSSW The First Steps in a Bold New Era of Human Discovery: Candidate Artemis III Landing Sites will be held online 4-5 April; Locations under consideration are within Artemis Polar Exploration Zone (poleward of 84° S); Artemis 3 to conduct sample collection over ~6 days of surface operations, ≤4 EVAs within 2 km of SpaceX Starship lander; Abstacts due 1 March and will be available for review 21 March

Credits: NASA, LPI

Tuesday / 24 Jan 2023

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JAXA Tests Skills of Astronaut Candidates in Lunar Simulation with Eye Towards Artemis Surface Missions NET 2025

2 woman and 8 men (out of 919 and 3,208 respective applicants) awaiting JAXA new astronaut class selection following final testing of rover / EVA aptitude in Space Exploration Field, a 400m2 lunar training replica containing 425,000 kg of silica sand (SiO2) within Space Exploration Innovation Hub Center at JAXA Sagamihara Campus; 2023 class of Japan Astronauts to be first including women since 1999 group, may also include candidates lacking formal postsecondary education; Space tourists Yusaku Maezawa and Steve Aoki may make lunar flyby on SpaceX Starship with #dearMoon NET 2023

Pictured: Exploration Hub Director Ikkoh Funaki, 2009 JAXA astronaut group; Credits: JAXA, @Astro_Wakata

 

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 20-23 Jan 2023

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2 Newly Arrived Moon Orbiters May Be Joined by at Least Half-Dozen Landers in Coming Months

As NASA / Advanced Space Capstone continues pathfinder mission of NRHO (so far finding Δv orbital maintenance requirements to be substantially less than expected) and KPLO Danuri prepares to begin science operations in Feb, ispace Hakuto-R lander should start return towards cislunar space after having reached furthest point in nearly 5-month fuel-efficient trajectory (1,400,000 km); Astrobotic PM-1 (with Project Kuiper and Celestis) and Intuitive Machines IM-1 (with DOGE-1) to follow NET Q1 2023, JAXA SLIM (with XRISM) NET April, ISRO Chandrayaan-3 NET June, Roscosmos Luna-25 NET July

Credits: JAXA, ISRO, Roscosmos

 

Friday / 20 Jan 2023

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Happy 93rd Birthday to Buzz Aldrin as Artemis Generation on Cusp of Resuming Human Activity on Moon 

In a recent op-ed tribute to Apollo 7 Astronaut Walt Cunningham, second person to reach lunar surface Buzz Aldrin reiterates “Human exploration is essential. We must return to the Moon, and then go farther”; The first woman will walk on Moon with Artemis 3 (landing NLT 4 July 2026), a historic event which may be advanced at upcoming State of the Union address 7 Feb; Where crew will land within South Pole area TBD, sites under consideration will be discussed at NASA-sponsored Lunar Science Surface Workshop 4-5 April

Credits: NASA, Twitter / @TheRealBuzz