Re: Lunar Landings News and Discussions
Posted: Fri Dec 01, 2023 4:55 pm
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Read more here: https://www.universetoday.com/164584/ ... e-164584(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).
In all seriousness I doubt they land them on the moon this decade. I'd bet money on it.wjfox wrote: ↑Mon Dec 04, 2023 11:28 pm '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
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.
Read more here: https://www.sciencealert.com/japan-pro ... -landing(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.