NASA has just released a proposal for building an oxygen pipeline in the Moon’s lunar south pole region for future Artemis astronauts. This oxygen will be used for human habitats, rovers, life support systems, and an oxidizer for launch vehicles departing the Moon. These oxygen extraction technologies are set to be demonstrated at large scale on the Moon as early as 2024, while supporting Artemis astronauts as early as 2026.
NASA’s Orion spacecraft is finally headed home and set to return to Earth on December 11th after completing a powered Moon flyby just 128 kilometers from its surface. The spacecraft used lunar gravity as a slingshot for its 237,000 mile journey back to Earth, and this spectacular Earthrise photo was captured after it reemerged from behind the Moon.
Snoopy is set to join the Artemis I crew, and the Peanuts character just might be joined by NASA’s robotic Cold Operable Lunar Deployable ARM (COLDArm) on a future mission. The lunar surface around the Moon’s South Pole is even colder at night than Mars, making it a challenge for our current spacecraft, which utilize energy-burning heaters to keep from freezing.
NASA’s Orion spacecraft is now over 430,000 km (267,189 mi) from Earth, or even further than the Apollo capsule traveled during the previous lunar missions. A camera attached to the solar panels managed to snap a photo of both the Moon and Earth in a single frame, showing just how small we really are.
NASA’s briefcase-sized Lunar Flashlight is essentially a small satellite that will be used to search for water ice in permanently shadowed craters at the Moon’s South Pole, using an unusual orbit employed by only one other spacecraft. It’s being readied to launch no earlier than November 30th for a 3-month journey that sees it zipping far past the Moon.
NASA’s Orion spacecraft successfully completed its Moon flyby and captured a selfie, along with these fascinating up-close shots of the lunar surface. It’s currently drifting further away from the Moon and preparing to enter a distant retrograde orbit starting tomorrow (Nov. 25).
Canada-based startup STELLS revealed their Mobile Power Rover (MPR-1) this week, and if tests are successful, it aims to provide wireless charging on the Moon via its solar panels by 2025. They plan to launch it as a payload on an Intuitive Machines lander to the south polar regions of the lunar surface, and once activated, will transfer power using wireless technology to other spacecraft as well as vehicles.
NASA’s Orion spacecraft successfully completed its first inspection and even managed to snap a selfie during its Moon flyby, which took place at 7:44 a.m. EST today. It fired off the orbital maneuvering system engine for 2 minutes and 30 seconds to accelerate the spacecraft at a rate of more than 580 mph
Photo credit: Daryavaseum
When you look at pictures of the Moon like this, a giant telescope usually comes to mind. Amateur astrophotographer Darya Kawa Mizra captured this incredibly sharp image of the Moon using a Celestron Nexstar 8SE telescope along with a Canon EOS 1200D camera at prime focus. The colors you see are the minerals reflecting off the surface and were slightly enhanced in post processing.
We found out that lunar caves could be used as shelter for future astronauts, but how did Earth’s Moon actually form? A supercomputer simulation predicted that an object approximately the size of Mars, called Theia, collided with Earth and that is how the Moon formed. It didn’t take months or even days, just a matter of hours, when material was launched directly into orbit after the impact.