NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s Post

Back to the Moon? At approx 6:24pm EST (11:24pm GMT / 12:24am CET), we could witness the Odysseus lunar landing. Click below for the live NASA feed. Per Space.com: "We're just hours away from what could be the first moon landing by an American spacecraft in 50 years, a success that would kickstart the nation's hope to eventually establish a long-term presence on the moon as part of its Artemis program. Odysseus (nicknamed "Odie"), a 14-foot-tall (4.3 meters) lander built and operated by Houston company Intuitive Machines, will attempt to land close to the moon's south pole today at 6:24 p.m." This follows another historic lunar landing: On January 19, Japan's AXA SLIM spacecraft successfully landed on the moon’s surface and the country joined Russia — then the Soviet Union — the U.S., China and India in reaching the lunar surface. #moon #nasa #artemis #odysseus #moonlanding #lunarlanding #space #spaceprogram https://lnkd.in/eZbxC4G5

The latest news: The ascender of Chang'e-6 has successfully rendezvoused and docked with the return module and completed the transfer of lunar samples! According to the China National Space Administration, at 14:48 on June 6th, the ascender of Chang'e-6 successfully docked with the orbiter and returner combination in lunar orbit, and at 15:24, safely transferred the lunar sample container to the returner. This is the second time our country's spacecraft has achieved lunar orbit rendezvous and docking after Chang'e-5. The ascender first... [Full text]

The mission objectives of Chandrayaan-3 are: To demonstrate Safe and Soft Landing on Lunar Surface. To demonstrate Rover roving on the moon and. To conduct in-situ scientific experiments.

This Week in Space -" Well, we waited, we waffled, and we joked... but Boeing's Starliner finally made good! Seven or so years after their projected crewed flight date, the second provider of crew delivery to the International Space Station finally succeeded in sending two astronauts, Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams, to the ISS. Despite a few problems with (sigh) valves, helium tanks, and thrusters, the mission appears to be going swimmingly. Then, just a day later, SpaceX launched a Starship on a fourth test flight with spectacular results--and may be ready for another test launch within a few weeks. All good news this week, and it feels like newspace just picked up a lot of steam. Headlines: • China's Chang’e-6 mission successfully collected up to 2,000 grams of lunar samples from the far side of the moon and launched them back to Earth. • The Hubble Space Telescope faces gyroscope issues, prompting NASA to use only one gyroscope to extend its lifespan until around 2035. • A lava tube discovered on Mars near the Arsia Mons extinct volcano could potentially shelter future human habitats or host microbial life. • A new star, "Blaze Star" T Coronae Borealis, may appear in the night sky between now and September, becoming the first visible nova since 1946. Main Topic - Starliner and Starship:   • Boeing's Starliner successfully launched, rendezvoused, and docked with the International Space Station, despite some thruster and cooling system issues. • The mission marks the first time in decades that astronauts have launched from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on an Atlas V rocket. • Starliner's reusability and cost per seat are compared to SpaceX's Crew Dragon and Russia's Soyuz spacecraft. • SpaceX's Starship completed a successful test flight, with the Super Heavy booster and Starship vehicle performing well despite some heat shield damage during reentry. • The hosts discuss the progress and challenges of Starship development, including the recent cancellation of Yusaku Maezawa's “dearMoon” mission. • SpaceX's rapid launch cadence and plans for mass-producing Starship vehicles and engines are highlighted, along with the company's vision for catching Super Heavy boosters with the "Mechazilla" launch tower." Hosts: Rod Pyle and Tariq Malik This Week in Space episode 114

Monthly Space News 2024/04: Starship Flight Test 3, Chinese Lunar Program, other lunar lander updates, last Delta rocket launch, Russia's Angara rocket, 28 recent launches to space. Starship flight test 3 showed that it is close to being able to launch payloads to orbit in an expendable mode, and is making progress towards re-usable first and second stages. The biggest problems to resolve include the loss of attitude (orientation) control for returning first and second stages, both in space and in the atmosphere. Those are two separate problems involving different final control elements. Also, there were questions about closing of the cargo door.    The Chinese Lunar Exploration Program is making steady progress, demonstrating China's emergence as the leading alternative to US-led space programs in the new space race. The Chinese effort seems more oriented towards preparing infrastructure for human occupation and economic development, and strategic goals. In contrast, some like Rick Tumlinson characterize the U.S. Moon to Mars plans as short term "camping trips".  Also, China has moved on from their pioneering halo orbit for its 2018 lunar communications relay satellite, in favor of a more fuel-efficient frozen elliptical orbit in March, 2024.  A recent unannounced mission to the Moon failed to achieve lunar orbit.  Contrast Chinese lunar successes with some of the competition: The recent lunar missions by the Japanese SLIM lander and the American Odysseus lander both tipped over upon landing. Both are at or near their end, since they weren't designed with radioisotope heaters to survive the long lunar night. There were 28 launches to space during the previous 4 week period, with special attention to the finally successful Russian Angara rocket, and the final Delta rocket flight.  #Starship #test #ILRS #Moonbase #Moon #lunar #southpole #lunarLander #rover #ChangE #Queqiao #Odysseus #SLIM  #haloOrbit #frozenOrbit #Chinese #NASA #SpaceX  #RickTumlinson #space #news #spacenews #launches #satellite Available at  https://lnkd.in/gVSCC8mE (YouTube video, 46 minutes)

Yesterday I created a Visualyse Interplanetary simulation of a spacecraft around Saturn communicating with a ground station in London. The first part of this video shows that simulation and you can see that at some point the link fails, the red line disappearing - but why? If you had been up just after 4 am BST this morning you could have seen the reason, which is Saturn going behind the Moon, what is known as an occultation. With the Moon obstructing the link, the communication link will fail. The second half of the video shows a photo I took of Saturn and the Moon just before the occultation. For terrestrial links, we must look at the path profile to see if there are hills, mountains or buildings obstructing our path. For interplanetary links, we must check whether there are any planets or moons in the way. More information on Visualyse Interplanetary can be found here: https://lnkd.in/eU5c4iBc

Watch how these 6 planets orbit their star in perfect sync https://lnkd.in/dQfJU5nz

"Welcome to How to Make a Space Truck, presented by Lunar Outpost! In this series, we’ll teach you from concept to delivery, how to build a space truck for Astronauts on the lunar surface. Learn how it’s made and the many uses it will have on the Moon. In this first episode, Lunar Outpost CEO Justin Cyrus takes you through who we are, what we do, and outlines our Lunar Voyage 1 mission to the Shackleton Connecting Ridge. This mission constitutes the first commercial rover on another planetary body, the first American robotic rover on the lunar surface, and the first sale of space resources in human history. " How to Make a Space Truck: Welcome to Lunar Outpost Lunar Outpost

Great visualization