Lunar News Network

India Orbits Moon

The Indian spacecraft Chandrayaan 1 has achieved lunar orbit according to this BBC News report:

The mission will compile a 3D atlas of the lunar surface and map the distribution of elements and minerals. [...] The Indian experiments include a 30kg probe that will be released from the mothership to slam into the lunar surface. The Moon Impact Probe (MIP) will record video footage on the way down and measure the composition of the Moon's tenuous atmosphere. It will also drop the Indian flag on the surface of the Moon.

I don't think it counts though unless the flag is right side up and unfurled. I'm kidding, this is a great accomplishment for India and it's a much better national investment than building nuclear missiles to aim at Pakistan.

India Launches Lunar Mission

The race to the moon has a new contestant (AFP - India launches first moon mission):

India successfully launched its first lunar mission Wednesday, marking a major boost for the country's space programme and a new step in the fast-developing Asian space race. [...] ISRO is sending the Chandrayaan-1 on a two-year orbital mission to provide a detailed map of the mineral, chemical and topographical characteristics of the moon's surface. It is expected to reach lunar orbit in 15 days. The mission, which will also include the sending of a probe onto the lunar surface, will cost India 80 million dollars.

Additional coverage can be found here:

• The New York Times - India Launches Unmanned Orbiter to Moon
• Time - India Gains on China in Asia's Space Race

McCain Supports Space Program

Senator McCain has promised more funding for NASA and expressed support for the manned space program (Wall Street Journal - McCain Promises $2 Billion to Help NASA):

Sen. John McCain came to the space coast today and promised $2 billion to help NASA transition from the space shuttle to a new space vehicle. “I’ve always been a strong supporter of manned space flight and NASA,” he said in a community that is home to many in the field. “If I’m elected president I won’t cut NASA funds like Sen. Obama.” McCain aides noted that Obama, the Democratic presidential nominee, had promised to pay for education programs by delaying the Constellation space program, which is meant to fill the gap to the next space vehicle, only to backtrack later. “My friends, we just saw the Chinese. We saw them in space,” McCain told an afternoon rally of about 2,000 people. “We’ve got competition. We’ve got to stay ahead. We will be the first nation to Mars.”

This report notes that McCain didn't mention how this would work with the across-the-board funding freeze he has also proposed. Still, the report is very encouraging, as is their evenhanded acknowledgment that Obama has promised $2 billion for the Constellation program. Could it be that both candidates will be kind to NASA?

Moon Miners

I have highlighted the debate about why we should return to the Moon using the "Pro-Con" category tag and you can browse through past entries to review the many reasons why we should support the space program and the return to the Moon. One of the best specific and materialistic reasons to set up a base on the Moon is to mine helium-3. This reason for going is the subject of a news report this week (Yahoo News - How Lunar Soil Could Power the Future):

The moon is once again a popular destination, as several space-faring nations are talking about setting up bases there. One reason would be to mine fuel for future fusion reactors. The fuel in this case is helium-3, a lighter isotope of the helium used in balloons. In high energy collisions, helium-3 fuses with other nuclei to release more energy and less waste than the reactions in traditional nuclear reactors. "If we can show that we can burn helium-3, it is a much cleaner and safer energy source than other nuclear fuels," said Gerald Kulcinski, director of the Fusion Technology Institute at the University of Wisconsin at Madison.

Imagine that, the Moon as a clean energy resource. If we can get green activists behind this plan imagine the support and political momentum this would create.

Soyuz Replacement

A next generation crew vehicle has been designed by European and Russian space agencies (BBC News -  Manned spaceship design unveiled):

The first official image of a Russian-European manned spacecraft has been unveiled.

It is designed to replace the Soyuz vehicle currently in use by Russia and will allow Europe to participate directly in crew transportation.

The reusable ship was conceived to carry four people towards the Moon, rivalling the US Ares/Orion system.

The report makes clear that this is just a proposed design, contracts for construction and launch dates and services have not been finalized.

Commercial Space Developments

Ok, I'm a bit pressed for time right now, trying to get things together for the holiday weekend, but I didn't want to overlook this report in Newsweek (Let's Go To Space!) about commercial space efforts. It's nice to see a major newsweekly devote some attention to space. I'm not at all against the commercial space efforts, I wish them well, and if they can help boost public enthusiasm for space adventures, well, the more the better.

Reasons for Space Exploration

What drives humans to pursue space exploration?  Jeff Foust reports (The Space Review - A skeptic's guide to space exploration) on  a recent speech by Neil deGrasse Tyson where the astrophysicist took on that question, as well as some widely-held beliefs of space advocates. I appreciated that he had some good advice on how to convince Congress to continue to support space exploration, but his advice leaves me a bit pessimistic about the prospects of continued long-term funding for the Moon-Mars program.

Russia and EU To the Moon?

The race to the Moon is attracting more competitors (Reuters - Russia and Europe may team up for moon flights):

Russia and Europe are teaming up to build a spaceship which will fly astronauts to the moon, Russia said on Wednesday, although the European Space Agency struck a more cautious note. The first test flight is set for 2015 and the first manned flight is planned for 2018, Russian space agency Roskosmos said.

This joint effort between Russia and the European Space Agency is in it's infancy but it certainly looks like a promising partnership.

Candidates on Space

CNN has a report on where the candidates stand and space policy issues (Candidates and the space race):

One issue the presidential candidates are not saying much about is space exploration. But some scientists, military experts and intelligence analysts say the next president may well determine whether America keeps an edge in space.

The report goes on to note that the candidates have offered few specifics and their lack of vision raises the danger the U.S. leadership in space will fall behind our international competitors. Actually, this report doesn't really tell us much at all about where the candidates stand on space issues. Come on CNN,  you can do better. At least give us a few quotes from the candidates.

International Space Spending

It will not come as a surprise to most of you to learn that many countries have ambitious space programs. This report (Guardian - Global space spending up 11 pct to $251 billion) follows the money and finds that the U.S. enjoys a sizable lead:

Revenues from worldwide government and private spending on space projects rose to $251 billion last year, up 11 percent from 2006 despite slowing growth in many countries, an analysis released on Tuesday said. [...]Combined U.S. defense-related spending totaled $45 billion, or 71 percent of U.S. government space spending. [...] China's civilian space spending may have totaled $1.5 billion in 2007, the Space Foundation said, calling this a conservative estimate. [...] Russian space spending rose 49 percent to $1.32 billion in 2007 from a year earlier, driven largely by increased investment in Russia's GLONASS global navigation satellite system, the analysis said.

China Moon

The race to the Moon is heating up (Forbes - A New Space Race?):

China has plans to expand its lunar program, with the goal of putting an unmanned vehicle on the Moon by 2012 and sending people there by 2020. At the moment, China does not have plans to send people to Mars. [...] For the moment, China’s space program seems to be an effort to get a technological leg up on nations like Japan, which launched a lunar space probe last year, and India, which plans to do the same thing soon.

Lunar X Prize

Here is the latest from the lunar Googleplex (NYT - A Google Competition, With a Robotic Moon Landing as a Goal):

The return to the moon is part of the Google Lunar X Prize, a competition sponsored by Google with $30 million in prizes for the first two teams to land a robotic rover on the moon and send images and other data back home. At Google’s headquarters here on Thursday, 10 teams from five countries announced their intention to participate in the competition. They include a team led by William L. Whitaker, a professor at Carnegie Mellon University and renowned roboticist; an affiliation of four universities and two major aerospace companies in Italy; and one group that is a loose association of engineers coordinating their efforts online.

This is a private effort that I see as a wonderful adjunct to the NASA effort, it can promote space exploration, increase public support and enthusiasm, and inspire new generations of students to study science. Go Google!

Narrowing the Gap

Here is a news report about the NASA budget, it also addresses the gap issue as well as growing international competition (Houston Chronicle - Refueling NASA):

Despite Congress' rejection of a billion-dollar funding increase for NASA next year, Texas lawmakers haven't given up the fight to increase the agency's budget. In a tour of the development lab for the Orion crew exploration vehicle at the Johnson Space Center, U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, and U.S. Rep. Nick Lampson, a Democrat, called for an additional $2 billion to speed up construction of the Orion and the Ares rocket system to launch it into space.

The NASA budget approved by Congress is just over $17.3 billion. The added funding is needed to shorten a dangerous 5-year gap between the decommissioning of the three aging space shuttles in 2010 and the first scheduled flight of Orion in 2015. During that time, the United States would have to pay Russia to ferry astronauts to and from the International Space Station using disposable Soyuz space capsules.

In laying out an ambitious plan to return Americans to the moon and then voyage to Mars, the Bush administration ignores the risk of leaving the manned space program grounded at a time when China is gearing up for its own efforts to go to the moon.

The Wrong Stuff?

MSNBC - NASA chief: China will beat US back to moon:

“I personally believe that China will be back on the moon before we are,” NASA Administrator Michael Griffin said in a low-key lecture in Washington two weeks ago, marking the space agency’s 50th anniversary, still a year away.

“I think when that happens, Americans will not like it. But they will just have to not like it.”

Griffin’s candor startled many in the space community, but insiders acknowledge the reality. China has pulled off two manned spaceflights with its own rockets and is eager to head for the moon.

This is an incredibly discouraging mindset for the NASA administrator to have. I wonder how effective he can be in leading the U.S. space program when he has this kind of attitude?  Don't we need someone with a "can-do" attitude, someone willing to do everything possible to focus national attention, interest, and funding on the larger goals of space exploration? Or, perhaps he is merely playing the China in an attempt to rouse our competitive spirit?

Google Sponsors Lunar Prize

Google continues to sponsor lunar exploration with a new prize to promote commercial exploration of the Moon (Space.com - Google to Sponsor $30 Million Lunar X Prize):

Silicon Valley giant Google Inc. is teaming with the X Prize Foundation to launch a commercial race to the Moon with $30 million in incentives to collect along the way. [...] The goal of the new prize will be to land a privately funded robotic rover on the Moon that is capable of completing several mission objectives, such as: roaming the lunar surface to a distance of at least 1,640 feet (500 meters) and relaying video, images and data back to Earth.

This stunning development is sure to capture the imagination of millions of Earth-bound humans as we begin to actively participate in lunar exploration. Brilliant!