Lunar Landings News and Discussions

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Europe is Working on a Multi-Purpose Habitat for the Moon
by Laurence Tognetti
November 30, 2023

Introduction:

(Universe Today) With NASA gearing up to send humans back to the Moon in the next few years with the Artemis missions with the goal of establishing a permanent outpost at the lunar south pole, nations are making efforts to contribute to Artemis and a permanent presence on our nearest celestial neighbor. Recently, the Italian Space Agency, formally known as Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (ASI), has taken steps to establish the first permanent outpost on the lunar surface, known simply as the Multi-Purpose Habitat (MPH). This endeavor was officially kicked by the ASI signing a contract with the French-based aerospace company, Thales Alenia Space, who specializes in space-based systems, including ground segments and satellites used for both Earth observation and space exploration.

“MPH will mark a historic milestone as the first Italian habitation module to operate on the lunar surface. This is a matter of great pride for our company, which has the unique technical and organizational skills to overcome challenges of this kind ” Franco Fenoglio, who is the Manager of Human & Robotic Planetary Exploration Program at Thales Alenia Space, said in an official statement. Thales also announced the partnership on its X account, formerly known as Twitter.

Despite MPH being only a concept right now, the partnership between ASI and Thales Alenia Space comes after MPH’s design passed NASA’s Element Initiation Review just last month and with a Mission Concept Review (MCR) slated to be conducted sometime in the first quarter of 2024. The goal of MPH will be its compatibility with Artemis architecture for future lunar crewed missions.

The image provided by Thales Alenia Space of its MPH shows a very simple design comprised of a single cylinder complete with solar panels and a communications dish. However, this module will be required to protect astronauts from the harsh lunar environment, including intense cosmic radiation and the lunar surface’s extreme temperature fluxes, as temperatures at the lunar equator can reach 121 degrees Celsius (250 degrees Fahrenheit) during the day and -133 degrees Celsius (-208 degrees Fahrenheit).

Read more here: https://www.universetoday.com/164584/ ... e-164584

[wjfox]

'Tremendous technical challenges': New report says NASA won’t land astronauts on the moon in 2025

Published December 1, 2023 6:49PM

NASA will miss its mark trying to land astronauts on the moon by 2025. That’s according to a new report, released by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) this week.

"There are tremendous technical challenges that have to be resolved," said Ken Kremer. He's a space journalist in Brevard County who read and analyzed the new report.

The new 47-page document from the GAO estimates NASA is at least two years off track in its Artemis program.

"I think they were a little overoptimistic," Kremer said, referencing how he thought it was already an ambitious timeline. He also added that NASA has fallen behind on other missions in the past.

The report outlines several issues with the current mission, including an unrealistic timeline from NASA based on previous project durations, several six-month and longer delays on key technology tests, and design challenges with the spacesuit.

https://www.fox35orlando.com/news/treme ... on-in-2025

[weatheriscool]

'Tremendous technical challenges': New report says NASA won’t land astronauts on the moon in 2025

Published December 1, 2023 6:49PM

NASA will miss its mark trying to land astronauts on the moon by 2025. That’s according to a new report, released by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) this week.

"There are tremendous technical challenges that have to be resolved," said Ken Kremer. He's a space journalist in Brevard County who read and analyzed the new report.

The new 47-page document from the GAO estimates NASA is at least two years off track in its Artemis program.

"I think they were a little overoptimistic," Kremer said, referencing how he thought it was already an ambitious timeline. He also added that NASA has fallen behind on other missions in the past.

The report outlines several issues with the current mission, including an unrealistic timeline from NASA based on previous project durations, several six-month and longer delays on key technology tests, and design challenges with the spacesuit.

https://www.fox35orlando.com/news/treme ... on-in-2025

In all seriousness I doubt they land them on the moon this decade. I'd bet money on it.

[weatheriscool]

[wjfox]

Two U.S. firms to launch spacecraft to the moon within weeks of each other

December 24, 2023 at 1:01 p.m. EST

A pair of companies are planning to launch uncrewed spacecraft to the moon within weeks of each other early next year in a NASA-funded effort that could mark the first soft landings for the United States on the lunar surface since the last of the Apollo missions in 1972.

But in a sign of how the commercial space industry is transforming exploration, the companies are also vying for another historic first: to become the first private venture to land on the moon.

On Jan. 8, Astrobotic, a company based in Pittsburgh, is scheduled to launch its Peregrine spacecraft on the inaugural launch of the Vulcan rocket, which is operated by the United Launch Alliance, the joint venture of Lockheed Martin and Boeing. Then, in mid-February, from another pad at Cape Canaveral in Florida, Intuitive Machines is set to launch its lander on SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket.

The missions are related to NASA’s Artemis program, which intends to return astronauts to the lunar surface. But these missions are part of an effort called the Commercial Lunar Payload Services program, which is aimed to send cargo and science experiments to the moon. In announcing the program five years ago, then-NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said he wanted to harness the capabilities of private industry to go quickly and inexpensively. “What we’re going for here is speed,” he said at the time.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technolo ... ding-moon/

[weatheriscool]

Astronauts Test Starship's Crew Elevator for Lunar Landing
Starship is very tall, so astronauts will need an elevator to get to the surface.
By Ryan Whitwam December 26, 2023
https://www.extremetech.com/science/ast ... ar-landing

NASA is headed back to the Moon, and SpaceX is a key part of that plan. Elon Musk's private spaceflight firm is working on a special version of its upcoming Starship rocket, the Human Landing System (HLS). The first crewed Artemis landing is still on the books for 2025, and there's a lot of work still to do. Two astronauts have helped test a vital part of the Starship HLS: the elevator.

The Starship rocket is designed to handle anything SpaceX can throw at it, with considerably more power and payload capacity than the company's Falcon 9 rocket. When freed of the Super Heavy first stage, Starship is still 160 feet (50 meters) tall, and the crew compartment is near the top of the vehicle. So, Starship HLS needs an elevator to take astronauts from the nose down to the lunar surface.

SpaceX built a prototype of the planned HLS elevator at its facility in Hawthorne, California. It features a full-scale basket with functioning mechanical components and controls. The astronauts, Nicole Mann and Doug “Wheels” Wheelock, wore space suits that approximated the movement range and mobility the crew could expect on the lunar surface. When the actual mission rolls around, the crew will have new advanced space suits developed by Axiom Space, but those aren't ready yet.

[caltrek]

Japan Probe Enters Lunar Orbit Ahead of Historic Moon Landing
December 27, 2023

Introduction:

(AFP via Science Alert) Japan's SLIM space probe entered the Moon's orbit on Monday in a major step towards the country's first successful lunar landing, expected next month.

The Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) is nicknamed the "Moon Sniper" because it is designed to land within 100 metres (328 feet) of a specific target on the lunar surface.

If successful, the touchdown would make Japan only the fifth country to have successfully landed a probe on the Moon, after the United States, Russia, China and India.

On Monday, SLIM "successfully entered the moon's orbit at 04:51 pm Japan time" (0751 GMT), the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) said in a statement released Monday evening.

"Its trajectory shift was achieved as originally planned, and there is nothing out of the ordinary about the probe's conditions," the agency said.

Read more here: https://www.sciencealert.com/japan-pro ... -landing

[wjfox]

Nasa Peregrine 1: US lander will not make it to moon’s surface due to fuel leak

Tue 9 Jan 2024 13.31 GMT

The first moon lander to launch from the US in half a century will not make it to the lunar surface due to a fuel leak, its operators have announced, adding that their goal was now to travel as far as possible before losing power.

Peregrine 1, which is also the first commercial space probe to attempt a soft landing on the moon, suffered a “critical loss of propellant” hours after lift-off on Monday due to an “anomaly” in the propulsion system, according to Astrobotic, the US company behind the project.

After initially fearing that the spacecraft would not be able to orient itself towards the sun to charge its batteries, the team at Astrobotic announced it had successfully completed an “improvised manoeuvre” and the solar array was working.

However, in a later statement, the Pittsburgh-based company said its thrusters “could likely only operate for 40 more hours at most”, adding: “At this time, the goal is to get Peregrine as close to lunar distance as we can before it loses the ability to maintain its sun-pointing position and subsequently loses power.”

The lander, which is carrying Nasa scientific equipment, launched on the Vulcan Centaur rocket from Cape Canaveral, marking the first use of the powerful new rocket built by United Launch Alliance, a Boeing-Lockheed venture.

https://www.theguardian.com/science/202 ... -fuel-leak

[firestar464]

Artemis missions delayed once more

https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/canada/n ... ee3cb&ei=5