Moon Malaise This Week – Two Missions Impacted

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): Apollo 11 Lunar Module captured by NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. (NASA)

NASA said we would have weeks like this one.

First we have the compromised Peregrine Lunar Lander floating in space. Astrobotic posted this update earlier today:

Given the propellant leak, there is, unfortunately, no chance of a soft landing on the Moon. However, we do still have enough propellant to continue to operate the vehicle as a spacecraft. The team has updated its estimates, and we currently expect to run out of propellant in about 40 hours from now — an improvement from last night’s estimate. The team continues to work to find ways to extend Peregrine’s operational life. We are in a stable operating mode and are working payload and spacecraft tests and checkouts. We continue receiving valuable data and proving spaceflight operations for components and software relating to our next lunar lander mission, Griffin.

Second, we now have an official delay of the Artemis II and III missions, which is the crewed trips around the Moon and then to the surface of the Moon. NASA made the following statement:

NASA will now target September 2025 for Artemis II, the first crewed Artemis mission around the Moon, and September 2026 for Artemis III, which is planned to land the first astronauts near the lunar South Pole. Artemis IV, the first mission to the Gateway lunar space station, remains on track for 2028.

Rumors about a delay in the Artemis missions has been floating around for some time based on earlier audit reports, so this is not a big surprise. It is possible that NASA decided to dump the Artemis news this week to get everything on the table with this latest Peregrine problem rather than have two bad weeks.

We will just need a little more patience.

Image (Credit): Artemis II map. (NASA)
Image (Credit): Artemis III map. (NASA)

Looking for Canadian Space News?

Posted on by onespaceman2000
 

This site generally covers space news from a US perspective, but there are plenty of other perspectives to consider as well. I will try to point out more of them as I go along.

On viewpoint is that of the Canadians. I found a nice website that covers the space news for that country. I recommend you visit Spaceq for an update on what the Canadian are up to. Some of the stories posted on the site now include:

Of course, Canada is a key partner in the Artemis program, including providing one of the astronauts for the Artemis II mission. Canada is also working on its own space missions as well, including plans to place a rover on the Moon.

Top Astronomy Stories in 2023

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): Chart showing the planned travel of the JUICE spacecraft. (ESA, work performed by ATG under contract to ESA)

I wanted to start out the new year by first remembering all of the great missions from 2023. I also decided to group this work rather than focus on single missions.

Here is what I came up with:

NASA’s Moon Mission: We saw more progress towards the next steps in the Artemis program to put humans on the Moon, including NASA’s announcement of the four astronauts to lead the Artemis II mission, SpaceX’s tests of the Starship rocket, and the design of new spacesuits for the Artemis astronauts.

Other Attempts to Land on the Moon: We saw other nations also reaching for the Moon. While India had great success landing a rover on the lunar South Pole, both Russia and a commercial venture from Japan did not have similar luck. We also saw Japan trying it again late last year.

NASA Asteroid Missions: Asteroids were the big news this year, with Lucy encountering a surprise pair of asteroids, OSIRIS-REx bringing back a sample from the asteroid Bennu, and NASA launching the Psyche mission.

JWST Discoveries: This year we celebrated the anniversary of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), which has been better than ever imaged. It is helping to change our understanding of the origin of the universe while poking and prodding at exoplanets to review their secrets.

ESA Missions: The European Space Agency (ESA) has also been very busy in 2023. For instance, the launch of the Euclid mission to study dark matter and dark energy, as well as the JUICE mission to study Jupiter and its moons, will assist with our understanding of the big picture as well as our own neighborhood.

That’s an impressive record, and I look forward to even more great news in 2024.

ULA is Up for Sale

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): ULA’s new Vulcan Centaur rocket. (ULA)

United Launch Alliance (ULA), a space rocket partnership between Boeing and Lockheed Martin, is now being offered for sale. Both Blue Origin and Cerberus are showing interest, which could upset the space business as Blue Origin takes a big step forward or Cerberus gets into the space business.

ULA, formed in 2006, has both a wealth of experience as well as the confidence of the US military, even though SpaceX has been eating into that business. ULA also has ready commercial customers, including a partnership with Amazon to launch 47 rockets to bring the Kuiper broadband constellation into orbit.

The ties to Mr. Bezos, owner of Amazon, go even deeper than that. The ULA’s new rocket, the Vulcan Centaur, will use engines built by Blue Origin, another one of Mr. Bezos’ companies. This may make a Blue Origin a natural new owner to ULA.

The potential buyers may want to wait until the test launch of the Vulcan on January 8th. At that time, the Vulcan rocket will be used to launch the Astrobotic Peregrine commercial lunar lander, the first of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services initiative designed to deliver science and technology experiments to the lunar surface.

None of this means Boeing or Lockheed Martin are moving away from space altogether. Boeing is still working on its Starliner to bring individuals and cargo to low-Earth orbit as well as its Space Launch System, which serves as the backbone of the Artemis program. Lockheed Martin will be busy as well with its Orion capsule and human landing system (with Blue Origin and Boeing as well), additional key components of the Artemis program.

Any reshuffling is okay as long as it adds to the array of commercial options for NASA. A new player like Cerberus might be welcome, but I also see some value to pushing an experienced and involved Blue Origin to the top of its game a little quicker so it can go head-to-head with SpaceX.

This should be interesting. Stay tuned.

NASA Had a Busy Year

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): The introduction of the Artemis II crew, just one of many items highlighted in NASA’s new video summarizing 2023. (NASA)

This is the time of year for lists, so I wanted to highlight one of the more important lists, at least in the opinion of this writer. That’s right, we need to remember the important space milestones from this year.

Fortunately, NASA recently summed up its successes in 2023 with a new video titled NASA 2023: Nothing is Beyond Our Reach. The video highlights many of the Agency’s accomplishments this year, including the launch of the Psyche mission, the announcement of a crew for the Artemis II mission, and the OSIRIS-REx capsule retrieval.

It is quite a list. Luckily, NASA provided a list of links so you can read more about the various efforts:

Time to read up on 2023 before we dive into more activities in 2024.

Note: You can read a more detailed list of accomplishments at this NASA site.