Lunar News Network

Moon Smashing

Some necessary prep work will soon be done for the lunar program (Space.com - NASA Takes Aim at Moon with Double Sledgehammer):

NASA's previous Lunar Prospector mission detected large amounts of hydrogen at the moon's poles before crashing itself into a crater at the lunar South Pole. Now the much larger Lunar Crater and Observation Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) mission, set for a February 2009 moon crash, will take aim and discover whether some of that hydrogen is locked away in the form of frozen water.

Why is this important? Well, we can use the hydrogen and oxygen in the frozen water for fuel, it's a sort of "live off the land" approach that will be vital to really getting the next stage of lunar exploration and settlement going.

Shake Me to the Moon

It looks like NASA is facing a very serious engineering problem (The Associated Press  - NASA Moon Rocket May Shake Too Much) with some important hardware:

Engineers are concerned that the new rocket meant to replace the space shuttle and send astronauts on their way to the moon could shake violently during the first few minutes of flight, possibly destroying the entire vehicle.

If not corrected, the shaking would arise from the powerful first stage of the Ares I rocket, which will lift the Orion crew capsule into orbit.

NASA officials hope to have a plan for fixing the design as early as March, and they do not expect it to delay the goal of returning astronauts to the moon by 2020.

I'm a bit surprised by this, as I'd been under the impression that the reason they opted for rocket launches and going back the the Apollo-era designs was that this was tried and true technology that could be easily updated. I hope they can quickly solve this problem.

Boeing Wins Ares Contract

Some launch hardware news (Space - NASA Taps Boeing to Build Avionics for New Rocket):

Boeing Space Exploration of Houston nabbed its second major role on NASA's new astronaut launcher, winning a contract potentially worth $800 million to build and outfit an avionics ring that will control the Ares I rocket in flight. [...] The avionics ring will be outfitted with all the electronics needed to provide guidance, navigation and control for the entire Ares I rocket. Boeing's job is to select the electronic components that best meet NASA's needs and install them on the inside of a large metal ring that connects the Ares I upper stage and the Orion capsule.

Russian Tech Aids Moon Effort

How would you feel about using Russian technology to advance the mission to return to the Moon? According to this report (Westfall Weekly News - Russia, U.S. sign space deals) a deal has been negotiated to add some Russian instruments to the lunar and Martian probes:

Russian and U.S. space chiefs signed agreements Wednesday to cooperate on unmanned missions that would search for potential water deposits beneath the surface of the moon and Mars. The agreements signed by NASA Administrator Michael Griffin and Russian Space Agency chief Anatoly Perminov deal with putting Russian instruments on board NASA probes that would be sent to the moon and Mars.

Boeing Wins

An important development to note in lunar program hardware (MarketWatch - Boeing wins rocket bid in NASA's lunar program):

Boeing Co. edged a key rival to win a contract to work on the rockets NASA will use to return astronauts to the moon, the U.S. space agency said late Tuesday. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration said it chose Boeing as the contractor to design and build the upper stage of the Ares 1 rocket, which will help carry a crew of astronauts into space - over and over, if NASA's plans come through. Ares and the Orion crew vehicle, the conical capsule that will sit atop the rocket, are set to become NASA's next vehicle for space transport when it retires its last space shuttle in 2010.

Back to Blogging

I'm emerging from the dog days of summer, with vacation time receding into the past, but not yet back up to full blogging speed. Still, I did want to note this Forbes article taking a look at The Future Of NASA. Also of note, an important bit of news regarding the hardware, NASA has awarded a contract to build the first stage rocket for the Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle (Science Daily - NASA awards Ares first-stage contract).

Lunar Med Tech

Imagine a future lunar explorer falls into a crater and breaks a leg (but not the spacesuit), colleagues quickly transport her back to the habitat where a prefab modular medical bay complete with a robot surgeon is standing by (Longview Daily News - NASA to test robot surgeon):

All the portable parts of this device weigh about 50 pounds and can be transported and reconstructed by non-engineers at remote sites. Robot surgeons currently being used in hospitals weigh several thousand pounds, are not portable and can't be easily broken down and reconstructed.

Lunar Habitats

When our intrepid explorers finally reach the Moon again and set up an encampment, where will they live? NASA has plans to build inflatable structures to house our first lunar colonists (Space.com - NASA Tests Inflatable Lunar Shelters): 

The inflatable structure is made of multilayer fabric and looks like an ungainly white robot with legs. The main unit is 12 feet in diameter and 18 feet tall. It has a volume of about 1,600 cubic feet and is connected to an airlock, also inflatable. The two spaces are essentially pressurized cylinders, connected by an airtight door.

I wonder how well that kind of structure will do in shielding them from solar radiation? That is one of the great dangers the colonists will face.

Solar Wings

Another day in the orbital construction zone as the new solar panels were unfurled (Washington Post - NASA Unfurls Station's New Solar Wings):

NASA unfurled the international space station's new solar wings for the first time Thursday in what looked like a giant accordion being stretched out in orbit. [...] The crew did not run into any trouble with the folded-up panels sticking together in the cold, a problem that came up during a mission in 2000. This time, NASA devised a method for unfurling the solar wings that allowed them to be heated up by the sun.

ISS Construction Continues

Work continues in orbit, here is the latest from the Houston Chronicle:

Spacewalking astronauts successfully attached the first major addition to the international space station in nearly four years Tuesday, a 45-foot-long extension of the solar power system. Two more spacewalks were planned this week to finish the task. [...] The new solar current will help to power future research modules contributed by the European and Japanese space agencies as well as the life support equipment needed to increase the number of astronauts housed aboard the station.