NASA is Looking for Help with its Upcoming Moon Mission

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Image (Credit): Shackleton crater at the Moon’s south pole. (NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University)

With NASA planning to return to the Moon shortly as part of the Artemis mission, it is tying up loose end and figuring out what else it may need. It seems that one of the needed items is a better way to conduct its work at the lunar south pole. This comes down to two challenges, both of which have a payout to the winner.

Here’s NASA’s description of the two challenges:

Challenge 1: NASA is seeking an orienteering aid that will help the astronauts navigate on traverses away from the lunar lander and return back. While there were similar devices available to the Apollo astronauts, NASA is looking for new and unique solutions. Among other considerations, devices must be accurate, easy to use, able to be used on the moon’s surface by an astronaut wearing pressurized gloves. If your solution is one of the best, you could be eligible for a share of the $15,000 prize purse.

Challenge 2: NASA is looking for assistance in getting to and mapping the bottom of Shackleton Crater. The design must work in the extreme conditions of the lunar south pole and Shackleton Crater, map the crater, characterize and quantify what is in the crater, and send the data back to be used for future missions. If you can solve this challenge by describing your design concept in detail, you could be eligible for a share of the $30,000 prize purse.

You might wonder why NASA is only thinking of these needs now. I am hoping NASA has some less refined solutions and is only seeking for a better way.

If you have an idea or two, be sure to share it with NASA by November 25, 2024.

Good luck!

Space Stories: Axiom Space Struggling Financially, Intuitive Machines Gets $4.8 billion NASA Contract, and Water and Hydroxyl Widespread on Moon

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Credit: Axiom Space

Here are some recent stories of interest.

—ARS Technica: “A Key NASA Commercial Partner Faces Severe Financial Challenges“

Axiom Space is facing significant financial headwinds as the company attempts to deliver on two key commercial programs for NASA—the development of a private space station in low-Earth orbit and spacesuits that could one day be worn by astronauts on the Moon. Forbes reports that Axiom Space, which was founded by billionaire Kam Ghaffarian and NASA executive Mike Suffredini in 2016, has been struggling to raise money to keep its doors open and has had difficulties meeting its payroll dating back to at least early 2023. In addition, the Houston-based company has fallen behind on payments to key suppliers, including Thales Alenia Space for its space station and SpaceX for crewed launches.

—Reuters: “Intuitive Machines Clinches $4.8 billion Navigation Services Contract from NASA“

Intuitive Machines said on Tuesday it has bagged a navigation and communication services contract of up to $4.82 billion from NASA for missions in the near space region. As part of the contract, which has a base period of five years with an additional five-year option period, Intuitive will deploy lunar relay satellites and provide communication and navigation services to aid NASA’s Artemis campaign.

—Planetary Science Institute: “Sources of Water and Hydroxyl are Widespread on the Moon“

A new analysis of maps of the near and far sides of the Moon shows that there are multiple sources of water and hydroxyl in the sunlit rocks and soils, including water-rich rocks excavated by meteor impacts at all latitudes. “Future astronauts may be able to find water even near the equator by exploiting these water-rich areas. Previously, it was thought that only the polar region, and in particular, the deeply shadowed craters at the poles were where water could be found in abundance,” said Roger Clark, Senior Scientist at the Planetary Science Institute and lead author of “The Global Distribution of Water and Hydroxyl on the Moon as Seen by the Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3)” that appears in the Planetary Science Journal. “

Space Quote: Exciting Days Ahead for the US Space Program

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Image (Credit): An image of Buzz Aldrin’s bootprint on the lunar surface from the Apollo 11 mission. (NASA)

“After having no other U.S. options for over 30 years, three different human spacecraft programs are now underway. In addition to the SpaceX Crew Dragon and the Boeing Starliner, NASA’s Orion spacecraft for the Artemis II mission, is planned to fly four astronauts around the Moon in the next couple of years. These programs have had setbacks and bumps along the way – and there will be more – but I haven’t been this excited about human spaceflight since I was an 11-year-old cheering for Apollo and dreaming about putting the first human footprints on Mars.”

–Statement by former commander of the International Space Station Michael Fossum when asked by The Conversation about NASA’s decision to return the craft uncrewed, the future of the Starliner program and its crew’s extended stay at the space station.

Space Stories: The Search for Super Civilization, Students Sought for Lunar Mission, and Kilonova Seekers

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Image (Credit): Murchison Widefield Array radio telescope in Western Australia. (Curtin University)

Here are some recent stories of interest.

—SETI Institute: “SETI Institute Starts First Low Frequency Search for Alien Technology in Distant Galaxies“

The SETI Institute, the Berkeley SETI Research Center and the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research announced a groundbreaking study using the Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) in Western Australia. Led by Dr. Chenoa Tremblay of the SETI Institute and Prof. Steven Tingay of Curtin University, this research is the first to search for signs of alien technology in galaxies beyond our own, focusing on low radio frequencies (100 MHz).

This innovative study used the MWA’s large field of view (FOV), allowing the team to cover about 2,800 galaxies in one observation, of which 1300 we know the distance to. Usually, the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) has focused on signals within our galaxy. This new approach goes further, looking at distant galaxies. This new approach looks at distant galaxies, making it one of the most detailed searches for super civilizations—those more advanced than ours. To send a signal from another galaxy, a civilization would need technology powerful enough to use the energy of their sun or several stars in their galaxy.

—KXAN: “College Students Sought to Help NASA Return to Moon“

NASA needs some help with frozen liquid. As part of the space agency’s planned trip to the moon as part of the Artemis mission, NASA is looking for a way to store “super-chilled” propellants for months on end. They’re asking college students for help. Announced earlier this month, NASA’s 2025 Human Lander Challenge (HuLC) is open for submissions. The competition, now in its second year, is asking for students to develop innovative methods for “in-space cryogenic liquid storage.”

—University of Portsmouth: “Citizen Science Project Identifies 20 New Astronomical Discoveries“

A citizen science project, which invites members of the public to take part in identifying cosmic explosions, has already identified 20 new astronomical discoveries. Over 2,000 volunteers across 105 different countries have worked on 600,000 classifications over a six-month period. The project ‘Kilonova Seekers’ aims to find kilonovae – the cosmic explosions of neutron stars and black holes colliding in distant galaxies. Volunteers are asked to play ‘spot the difference’ using data from the two Gravitational-wave Optical Transient Observer (GOTO) telescopes, which are located on opposite sides of the planet – on La Palma, in Spain’s Canary Islands, and Australia’s Siding Spring Observatory.

A Day in Astronomy: The Birth of Ray Bradbury

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On this day in 1920, Ray Douglas Bradbury was born in Waukegan, Illinois. Mr. Bradybury would grow up to be a famous American author and screenwriter.

One of his science fiction works,The Martian Chronicles stories, tells the story of mankind’s colonization of Mars and the ultimate effect on the colonizers.

He wrote numerous other famous books and short story collections, including Fahrenheit 541, Something Wicked This Way Comes, The Illustrated Man, and Dandelion Wine.

Speaking on science fiction, Mr. Bradbury once stated:

Science fiction is any idea that occurs in the head and doesn’t exist yet, but soon will, and will change everything for everybody, and nothing will ever be the same again. As soon as you have an idea that changes some small part of the world you are writing science fiction. It is always the art of the possible, never the impossible.

Asked in a 2004 interview what he thought about the US space program, he stated:

It’s too late, isn’t it? We’ve let 30 years go by. It’s stupid. It’s stupid. We should have stayed on the moon. We should have made moon the base, instead of building space stations, which are fragile and which fly apart. The moon is a good, solid base to build a space travel organization in the community. Then we take off from the moon and we go to Mars. But it’s terribly late. We’ve let too much time go by. We’ve been busy with war instead of being busy with peace. And that’s what space travel is all about. It’s all about peace and exploration and wonder and beauty.

Fortunately, it is not too late to visit the Moon or Mars, as demonstrated by NASA’s Artemis program. It’s the art (and science) of the possible.