Lunar News Network

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.

Update on Lockheed win

More on the Lockheed win from The Washington Post:

Lockheed Martin Corp. won a multibillion-dollar contract yesterday to build a vehicle to replace NASA's space shuttles, put a human on the moon for the first time since 1972 and be the precursor to a manned spaceship to Mars.

The award marks NASA's most concrete step to fulfill President Bush's two-year-old, $230 billion promise that the space agency would return astronauts to the moon and restore excitement about space exploration. NASA has planned to replace the shuttles since the mid-1980s and has spent almost $5 billion to do so -- with little success so far.

"It's just thrilling, for all of us," said Skip Hatfield, NASA's project manager. The vehicle, known as Orion, is the embodiment of the "very future of human space flight," he said.

Orion Imagined

Here is a graphic that is being used to illustrate many of the press reports about the Orion contract:

Orion in lunar orbit, with the Earth in the background.
Photo credit: Lockheed Martin Corp.

Lockheed Wins CEV Contract

Reuters - Lockheed wins NASA spaceship contract:

NASA has awarded a multibillion-dollar contract to Lockheed Martin Corp. to design, develop and test a manned spaceship to replace aging U.S. space shuttles, two congressional sources familiar with the decision told Reuters on Thursday.

Orion

The name of the crew exploration vehicle (CEV) that will return us to the Moon was supposed to be a secret until the big NASA announcement - the secret is out (CNN - Spaceman Spills The Beans).

Back to Apollo

NASA is reaching back to the Apollo days for engineering and design ideas (AP) for the next generation of rockets and lunar craft:

Facing tight deadlines and uncertain budgets as it works on President Bush's plan to send astronauts back to the moon and on to Mars, NASA is both cannibalizing and analyzing pieces of its glory years, namely the Apollo program that first put humans on the lunar surface in 1969.

Float to the Moon

Here is an interesting report on Space.Com (Genesis-1: Reaching Escape Velocity From Red Tape) about an experimental inflatable habitat in orbit:

The orbiting of the privately-bankrolled Genesis-1 expandable spacecraft by Bigelow Aerospace is a step forward in the company's vision to provide a low-cost, low Earth orbit human-rated space complex that is accessible to the commercial sector.

For some reason I'm reminded of blimps or dirigibles, only with these you would actually live inside the inflated space. I wonder if it would be practical to build a fleet of these as a shuttle service to the Moon? You could have one inbound and another outbound at all times, sending people and supplies to the Moon from Earth orbit. Coming soon, the Bigelow Lunar Express!

CEV Developments

Here is the latest development on building the Crew Exploration Vehicle (Space - Dueling Drawing Boards: Sizing up the CEV Designs):

Leading aerospace contractors are eagerly awaiting NASA's multi-billion dollar decision on who'll build the space agency's follow-on to the space shuttle now set for retirement in 2010.

Lunar Design Challenge

I wonder why the PR people at NASA release their news on Friday or over the weekend? Personally, I find it annoying, I pay more attention to the weekday news cycle and tend to miss the weekend news. People in government service always joke that the best time to release bad news is late on a Friday so no one will notice. NASA should release positive news to the media on Monday and allow this news to filter to all the MSM outlets over the course of a week. Well anyway, on to the news. This report (CNN - NASA launches lunar rocket challenge) announces that NASA is sponsoring a $2 million contest to inspire aerospace designers to build and demonstrate rockets that may one day support a lunar mission. Great, go to it guys.