After the success of its Chang’e 4 lander on the far side of the Moon, China has laid out an ambitious roadmap for continued lunar exploration. Chang’e 6 is scheduled to head to the Moon in 2023 or 2024, and Chang’e 7 in 2024 with the aim of landing at the south pole.
Chang’e 7 will have multiple components, including an orbiter, a relay satellite, a lander, a rover, and a mini-flying craft. Scientific payloads will study volatile compounds and isotopes, and measure heat flow through the lunar soil, reports Space.com. The flying craft will carry instrumentation to measure water molecules in permanently shadowed areas.
Chang’e 8, scheduled for the late 2020s, also will focus on the south pole. That mission will test technology for using local resources and 3D-printing manufacturing.
The Earth and Moon shared the same magnetic field some 3.5 billion to 4.1 billion years ago, and the Moon’s field helped shield the Earth from solar radiation that might have stripped away its atmosphere, concludes a NASA-led study published in the journal Science Advances.
“The Moon seems to have presented a substantial protective barrier against the solar wind for the Earth, which was critical to Earth’s ability to maintain its atmosphere during this time,” said Jim Green, NASA’s chief scientist and lead author of the study, as reported by Business Insider India.
The scientists created a computer model to simulate the behavior of the magnetic fields of the two orbs. The magnetospheres of the Moon and Earth would have been magnetically connected in the polar regions of each body. At certain times, the Moon’s magnetosphere would have served as a barrier to harsh solar radiation bombarding the Earth-Moon system.
The model also suggests that there was some atmospheric exchange as well. The Sun’s radiation would have charged neutral particles in the Earth’s upper atmosphere, enabling them to travel to the Moon along the lunar magnetic lines. The process might have contributed to the Moon maintaining a thin atmosphere, including nitrogen.
As the Moon cooled and lost its magnetosphere, solar wind stripped the atmosphere away.
Radio image of the night sky. Credit: MPIA/Glyn Haslam
The far side of the Moon is one of the most radio-quiet locations in the Earth-Moon system, which makes it an favorable spot for the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI), which scans the skies for radio communications.
Radio telescopes on Earth are located in isolated parts of the globe with minimal radio pollution, but they can’t compare to the far side of the Moon for blocking out radio interference. The idea is not a new one, but it has gotten fresh life thanks to a white paper submitted to the National Academy of Sciences’ Planetary Science and Astrobiology Decadal Survey 2023-2032. The team is led by Eric J. Michaud, a mathematics undergraduate at UC Berkeley, reports Phys.org.
The need to establish a site for a radio telescope is pressing, says Dr. Pete Worden, former director of NASA’s Ames Research Center. “There is some urgency in establishing a lunar far-side radio-quiet reserve before we get the burgeoning problem we have in Earth orbit with optical interference from communications satellites. We are already concerned about the Chinese communications satellites—so this needs to be a global consensus now!”
Radio noise could be mitigated all the more if the telescope were located in a crater. Crater walls would block out interference from orbiters or spacecraft that will become increasingly common on the Moon.
A lunar location would have two big drawbacks: One would be the cost of delivering the telescope to the far side of the Moon. Another, assuming the main energy source was solar, would be the difficulty of storing enough energy to last a two-week lunar night.
An alternative to a ground facility would be a telescope deployed in lunar orbit. One bonus: the weightlessness of orbit would do away with the need for a supporting structure. But the nature of the Moon’s gravitational field means that most lunar orbits are inherently unstable, which creates a new set of problems.
As Michaud concedes, much work needs to be done before the dream of a lunar SETI observatory can be realized.
Bacon’s bottom line: If the technical hurdles can be addressed, a SETI mission could add impetus to building a lunar transportation and logistical infrastructure and possibly a justification for maintaining a scientific staff on the Moon. Scientific investigation will lead the way in early lunar development.
I don’t know… Someone will to have to do better than this if space tourism is going to take off. I can safely say that the zero-G space toilet would dissuade 90% of the women of my acquaintance from ever leaving the Earth. — JAB
NASA has released its five-year, $28 billion budgetary plan to return four astronauts to the surface of the Moon by 2024 — for the first time in more than 50 years. The aggressive timeline hinges on Congress approving $3.2 billion to kick-start development of new lunar landers.
The plan unveiled Monday, reports Spaceflight Now, assumes that crews will lift off on NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) heavy-lift rocket, fly to the Moon on an Orion capsule, then transfer on a commercially developed lander to shuttle astronauts to and from the lunar surface where they will maintain a base for exploration and scientific investigation.
The Artemis Plan calls for developing a base camp on the lunar South Pole, possibly in Shackleton Crater. Key infrastructure includes the Orion spacecraft to deliver humans to lunar orbit, the Gateway orbiting the Moon to function as a transfer-and-docking station for the lunar lander, and The Habitation and Logistics Outpost (HALO) on the surface of the Moon.
Key elements of the base camp include an unpressurized lunar terrain vehicle, a habitable pressurized rover, a habitation module, power systems, and systems to exploit in situ resources.
NASA also envisions using upgraded spacesuits designed for the lunar surface, allowing more frequent spacewalks, with new-and-improved safety features, custom fitting, simplified maintenance, and better communications. more “NASA Releases Artemis Program Overview”
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.
Artist’s depiction of robots spooling out antennas on the far side of the Moon. Image credit: Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Scientists at the Colorado University-Boulder have laid out a roadmap for a decade’s worth of scientific research on the Moon. As detailed by a CU publication, four university teams will participate in upcoming or proposed space missions using the Moon as a unique scientific laboratory for peering back to the dawn of the cosmos. The projects include:
An instrument called Radio wave Observations at the Lunar Surface of the photoElectronSheath (ROLSES), which is slated to land on the Moon in just over a year.
Lunar Surface Electromagnetics Experiment (LuSee), which will collect similar data as ROLSES but on the far side of the Moon, where it will be shielded from interference produced by radio waves from Earth.
A proposed satellite known as the Dark Ages Polarimetry Pathfinder (DAPPER), which could be in orbit around the Moon by mid-decade. The suitcase-sized satellite will carry four wire antennas and a box-shaped “patch” antenna, to pick up incredibly subtle traces of the early universe’s hydrogen clouds.
Farside Array for Radio Science Investigations of the Dark Ages and Exoplanets, potentially by the end of the decade. FARSIDE will lay out more than 29 miles of wires on the moon’s surface in a spiral pattern to create a gigantic array for detecting cosmic signals.
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.”
Indian scientists have developed what they claim is a sustainable process for making brick-like structures on the Moon. The Microbial Induced Calcite Precipitation process would use bacteria to create a solid structure from lunar soil. The bricks, they suggest, could be used to assemble habitation structures on the lunar surface.
To create the brick, scientists with the Indian Institute of Science and Indian Space Research Organization mixed the Sporosarcina pasteurii bacteria, which produces calcium carbonate crystals, with a simulant of lunar soil. Next, reports Tech Explorist, they added urea and calcium along with gum extracted from guar beans. After a few days of incubation the resulting material was found to possess significant strength and machinability.
The material can be fabricated into any freeform shape using a lathe. “This is advantageous because this completely circumvents the need for specialized molds – a common problem when trying to make various shapes by casting,” says Koushik Viswanathan, assistant professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering. “This capability could also be exploited to make intricate interlocking structures for construction on the moon without additional fastening mechanisms.”
The next step in the development process is to make larger bricks with a more automated production process, and to test them under varied loading conditions like impacts and moonquakes.
Geoff Brooks, head of the Swinburne University lunar habitation research team.
Geoff Brooks, a chemical engineer with Australia’s Swinburne University, has been giving considerable thought to the challenges of building structures under the extreme conditions of the Moon. Temperatures swing from -180° C to 120° as the Moon alternates between intense light and deep darkness. The surface is bombarded by solar and cosmic rays. Glass-like dust particles get everywhere. Even the chemical behavior of materials changes.
“If you think about the way bricks are made, a bit like pottery, imagine trying to make pottery on the moon, where the perfect vacuum changes the way materials heat up and the shape that they take,” Brooks tells Create, an Australian engineering publication. “These are the kinds of experiments we’re now building, to test not only how the materials will react on the moon but how we can work with those conditions to create a structure.”
Humans will need structures to shelter them from cosmic rays and moon dust. “We will need buildings with thick walls to protect space travelers,” he says. “However, on the moon we have only the rocks on the ground and the sun to work with. Everything else is difficult and expensive to get there.”
Other research priorities include finding ways to manage abrasive dust, and recycling space junk.
Brooks heads a team of approximately 15 academics and PhD students encompassing disciplines such as mechanical engineering, mechatronics, product design, and physics.
After the success of its Chang’e 4 lander on the far side of the Moon, China has laid out an ambitious roadmap for continued lunar exploration. Chang’e 6 is scheduled to head to the Moon in 2023 or 2024, and Chang’e 7 in 2024 with the aim of landing at the south pole.
NASA has released its five-year, $28 billion budgetary plan to return four astronauts to the surface of the Moon by 2024 — for the first time in more than 50 years. The aggressive timeline hinges on Congress approving $3.2 billion to kick-start development of new lunar landers.
