Spacecraft – Luna 2076

The Most Fuel-Efficient Route to the Moon May Not Be a Straight Line

May 26, 2022

NASA soon will test a circuitous route to the Moon that takes its microwave oven-sized CubeSat satellite nearly a million miles into deep space to take advantage of gravitational forces that will allow it to reach the Moon with less expenditure of energy, the space agency reports.

The route, called a “near rectilinear halo orbit” (NHRO) works well in NASA’s computer simulations. CAPSTONE, short for the Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations, will provide the first real-world test of NRHO dynamics. The mission is intended to support NASA’s Gateway, a multipurpose outpost that will support long-term lunar missions under the Artemis orbit.

While the gravity-driven track will longer to reach the Moon — four months — NASA says it will “dramatically reduce the amount of fuel this pathfinder CubeSat will need to fly there.” more “The Most Fuel-Efficient Route to the Moon May Not Be a Straight Line”

Challenges to Landing Spacecraft on the Moon

April 3, 2022

Five Apollo expeditions landed spacecraft on the Moon without incident. One would think that a feat accomplished with 1969-era technology would be a cakewalk today. But landing people on the Moon remains an ambitious feat, writes Mashable.

“Just because we went there 50 years ago does not make it a trivial endeavor,” Csaba Palotai, the program chair of space sciences in the Department of Aerospace, Physics and Space Sciences at the Florida Institute of Technology, told the publication.

The article identifies three main challenges: more “Challenges to Landing Spacecraft on the Moon”

Planning a Lunar Satellite Network

March 29, 2022

The European Space Agency (ESA) has issued a call for ideas for creating a network of lunar telecommunications and navigation satellites. The Moonlight initiative would allow dozens of planned lunar missions to share the same infrastructure to communicate with Earth and find their way to the lunar surface, according to an ESA press release republished in GPS World.

Two consortia of companies have completed their concept reviews, which set out their business and technical analysis of a lunar network. The next step will defining a detailed system architecture and identifying the most suitable partnership models between private space companies and ESA.

One consortium headed by Telespazio includes private manufacturing and engineering companies, universities and research centers and startups.

A second consortium headed by Surry Satellite Technology Limited includes satellite manufacturer Airbus, a satellite network providers, a satellite navigation cmopanies, and the goonhilly Earth Station, a UK-based radio communication station..

Designing Lunar Dust Busters

November 12, 2020

Recognizing the Moon dust could be one of the biggest problems facing lunar colonists, NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate is conducting research in the Mojave Desert to find ways to cope with the ubiquitous substance.

Measuring dust ejecta. One project involves a sensor for measuring the ejecta — gravel, small rocks, and lots of dust — that shoot out from the landing zone when a vehicle lands on the Moon. “This can cause widespread damage from sandblasting spacecraft surfaces and solar cells to actually striking and breaking optical sensors or other instruments, says Philip Metzger, a planetary physicist at the University of Central Florida.

“Having ejecta sensor data from actual lunar missions can help us improve those recommendations and will also help us protect the new spacecraft we’re sending to the Moon and even spacecraft orbiting around it – all of which is important not just to the U.S. but to the international space community as well,” Metzger said in a NASA publication. “And then we can develop physics equations that are truly predictive to inform mitigation strategies.”

more “Designing Lunar Dust Busters”

DARPA Funds Nuclear Thrust Technology

September 20, 2020

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has awarded a $14 million task order to Gryphon Technologies to support development of a rocket that can use nuclear thermal propulsion (NTP) in Earth orbit, reports Space.com.

The rocket would use fission reactors to heat propellants to extreme temperatures and eject the gas through nozzles to create thrust. The technology would have a thrust-to-weight ratio about 10,000 times higher than that of electric propulsion systems and a specific impulse, or propellant efficiency, two to five times that of traditional chemical rockets, DARPA documents say.

NASA has lauded the potential of NTP technology as well, suggesting that nuclear-powered spacecraft could reach Mars in three to four months, half the time needed by chemical rockets.

Gryphon Technologies, based in Washington, D.C., bills itself as providing engineering and technical solutions to national security organizations.

Dynetics Unveils Full-Scale Mock-up of Artemis Lander

September 15, 2020

Dynetics, a Huntsville, Ala.-based developer of space systems and technologies, has developed a full-scale mock-up of the lander it hopes will carry astronauts to the Moon. The prototype includes a crew module, deployable solar arrays and propellant tanks for lunar descent and ascent.

“Our team is pleased to bring this system to life,” Kim Doering, Dynetics vice president of space systems, said in a statement. “Our reusable, sustainable approach is ready to support a safe and successful hardware delivery for NASA’s mission.”

Dynetics is one of three prime contractors selected to design an integrated lander system for NASA’s Artemis Human Landing System Program, which has set the goal of returning humans to the Moon by 2024.

The prototype will enable the development team to test crew activities within the module. Explains the company; “The flexible design is readily reconfigurable, allowing the human systems integration team and flight crew to review and provide feedback on early concept designs and executive quick-turn iterations.”

Astrobotic to Deliver VIPER to Lunar Surface

June 11, 2020

Griffin carrying VIPER during lunar transit. Image credit: Astrobotics

NASA has selected Astrobotic to deliver a water-hunting robot to the Moon’s surface in late 2023, the company has announced. The 13-year-old Pittsburgh company was awarded a $200 million fixed-price contract to build and test a lander spacecraft that can transport NASA’s 1,000-pound robotic rover, VIPER, to the Moon.

The Griffin lunar lander is Astrobotic’s medium capacity lander product line, and is capable of delivering up to 500 kg of mass to the lunar surface.

Said Astrobotic CEO John Thornton: “Astrobotic’s lunar logistics services were created to open a new era on the Moon. Delivering VIPER to look for water and setting the stage for the first human crew since Apollo embodies our mission as a company.”

Only three countries — the U.S., the former Soviet Union, and China — have developed vehicles capable of a soft landing on the Moon. NASA hasn’t sent such a mission with either humans or robots since the Apollo program. The plan is for VIPER to spend 100 days on the Moon searching for water ice.

Video Overview of NASA’s Artemis Project in Five Short Minutes

December 21, 2019

It’s encouraging to see how far NASA has come in its thinking.

My only gripe: NASA still sees planting an outpost on the Moon primarily as a stepping stone to Mars rather than the first stage in full-scale lunar colonization as an adjunct to exploiting cislunar space. Mars may have scientific value, but it has no strategic value. The Moon offers both.

NASA SLS Rockets Could Cost $800 Million to $1.6 Billion a Pop

December 13, 2019

The Space Launch System (SLS) will be the most powerful rocket NASA has ever built. When completed, it will be able to take astronauts to the Moon and beyond. Indeed, according to NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine, it will be the only rocket “qualified” to take astronauts to the Moon.

NASA is under contract with Boeing to build two SLS rockets with the goal of putting astronauts back on the Moon by 2024: specifically, landing the next man and woman on the south pole of the Moon, after which it will need a third rocket, and perhaps more.

CNN Business asked a pertinent question: How much will the rockets cost?

Said Bridenstine:

When we think about the cost of an SLS rocket per launch, it really, quite frankly, depends upon how many we buy in a certain package. If you buy one SLS rocket, it’s going to be very expensive. I’d say on the order of $1.6 billion. If we buy multiple SLS rockets, say as many as ten, or twelve, it can get down under a billion dollars, $800 million per copy. But, look, these are all estimates at this point. NASA needs to sit down with its prime contractor Boeing to negotiate the best solution to the right mix to the number of rockets and the cost per rocket.

Bridenstine added that he would like to have a cadre of astronauts dedicated to the Artemis project. “I want the astronauts that we send to the Moon this time to be like the Mercury Seven where the astronauts have names and faces and backgrounds and histories and personalities.”

According to Science Alert, the SLS is the tallest rocket stage NASA has built since the Saturn V stages for the Apollo missions. It is also the most powerful, designed to reach a speed of Mach 23 before separating from its upper stage, the Orion crew capsule.

The project has suffered by delays and cost overruns. The first flight was scheduled for November 2018, and the price tag has risen from $6.2 billion to $8 billion. NASA has spent roughly $34 billion on the SLS, Orion, and the Exploration Ground Systems Program through 2018, a sum that is projected to increase to more than $50 billion by 2024.

Air Force Solicits Proposals to Advance Operations into Cislunar Space

December 12, 2019

Artist’s rendering of solar electric propulsion for moving an asteroid to cislunar orbit.

The Air Force Small Business Innovation Research program is soliciting proposals so support operations beyond geosynchronous Earth orbit. Cislunar operations is one of three space-focus areas in a pre-solicitation notice released Dec. 10 by the Air Force technology accelerator known as AFWERX.

Space News reports that the Air Force wants: payloads for providing space domain awareness from the lunar surface, lightweight sensors for space-based space domain awareness; methodologies for orbit determination and catalog maintenance in cislunar space; concepts for providing position, navigatiion and timing solutions for cislunar space operations; visualization of cislulnar orbits; and terrestrial-based concepts for achieving space domain awareness of cislunar space.

The Air Force also is seeking technologies to improve the performance of small satellites, which can be manufactured and launched quickly. Space News elaborates: more “Air Force Solicits Proposals to Advance Operations into Cislunar Space”

Category: Spacecraft