Returning to the Moon

[selvaarchi]

An interview with Leonard David on The Agenda with Stephen Cole. Video is 4.5 minutes long.

https://newseu.cgtn.com/news/2021-01...kzS/index.html

While the plans during the original space race were all about getting boots on the Moon, the new rush to space has tended to feature bigger and more long-term ambitions – like genuine international cooperation and creating a gateway to the next frontier: Mars.

However, that's not to say that our closest space neighbor should be forgotten. "The Moon is not a 'Been there, done that' place," says veteran space journalist Leonard David, "there's still a lot of mystery available for discovery and the Moon is still revealing itself to us."

Not that David is limiting our horizons, as he explained to The Agenda with Stephen Cole. He has high hopes for an international mission towards Mars, a planet we could one day call home. "It's an incredible human drama," he says.

[Roger E. Moore]

Lunar traffic to pick up as NASA readies for robotic commercial moon deliveries. Two commercial landers providing the first CLPS services for NASA will soon be kicking up dust on the Moon, one built by Astrobotic and the other Intuitive Machines. They are expected to deliver a combined total of 17 NASA payloads before the end of the year. Payload is a generic term to describe the many different instruments and experiments either attached directly to the lander itself or stowed safely in its trunk until a safe landing. The number of NASA payloads on a CLPS flight will vary depending on the agency's science and technology objectives among other factors. Astrobotic and its Peregrine lander are set to ferry 11 NASA instruments and technology demonstrations to the surface to investigate the composition of lunar soil and a host of other environmental factors. Launching on United Launch Alliance's Vulcan Centaur rocket, Peregrine is targeting later this year to deliver the suite of payloads to Lacus Mortis, a crater on the near side of the Moon.

https://www.moondaily.com/reports/Lu...eries_999.html

[Roger E. Moore]

NASA has selected Firefly Aerospace to deliver a set of 10 research payloads to the moon in 2023, the latest award in its Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program. The agency said it awarded Firefly the CLPS Task Order 19D for sending 10 payloads to Mare Crisium, a basin on the moon’s near side, in 2023 for a mission lasting at least two weeks. The award is valued at $93.3 million.

https://spacenews.com/firefly-wins-n...nder-contract/

[selvaarchi]

If this takes off, then Moon will be the destination for all and the one trillion economic.

https://spacenews.com/darpa-to-surve...s-on-the-moon/
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency wants to hear from the space industry about their capabilities to manufacture large structures on the moon.

This is a new project that DARPA announced Feb. 5 called “Novel Orbital and Moon Manufacturing, Materials and Mass-efficient Design.”

DARPA is looking to “develop foundational materials, processes, and designs needed to realize in-space manufacturing of large, precise and resilient Defense Department systems,” Bill Carter, program manager at DARPA’s Defense Sciences Office, said in a statement.

[Roger E. Moore]

If this takes off, then Moon will be the destination for all and the one trillion economic.

https://spacenews.com/darpa-to-surve...s-on-the-moon/
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency wants to hear from the space industry about their capabilities to manufacture large structures on the moon.

This is a new project that DARPA announced Feb. 5 called “Novel Orbital and Moon Manufacturing, Materials and Mass-efficient Design.”

DARPA is looking to “develop foundational materials, processes, and designs needed to realize in-space manufacturing of large, precise and resilient Defense Department systems,” Bill Carter, program manager at DARPA’s Defense Sciences Office, said in a statement.

It is worth mentioning a quote from the article: "The announcement does not say why DARPA or the Defense Department is interested in lunar systems. This type of project is consistent with the mission of DARPA’s Defense Sciences Office to avoid technological surprise and anticipate what might come next."

[Van Rijn]

I expect DARPA is far more interested in manufacturing large structures in Earth orbit (the “in-space manufacturing” mentioned) than on the moon. It would be potentially very useful, for example, to build larger antennas than the unfolding antennas used now. The Moon is less interesting for defense purposes because it is just too darned far away.

[Noclevername]

I expect DARPA is far more interested in manufacturing large structures in Earth orbit (the “in-space manufacturing” mentioned) than on the moon. It would be potentially very useful, for example, to build larger antennas than the unfolding antennas used now. The Moon is less interesting for defense purposes because it is just too darned far away.

Which has many potential applications to orbital solar power collectors, space stations, telescopes and even radiators... the list goes on.

[Roger E. Moore]

Turkey unveils space program including 2023 moon mission.

https://apnews.com/article/turkey-re...ae2c2a89134f33

[cannongray]

In five years, the United States plans to land on the moon and stay there, but will NASA meet the deadline?

[Van Rijn]

In five years, the United States plans to land on the moon and stay there, but will NASA meet the deadline?

Five years? I’d guess it might be a little later in the 20s for people (robots are easier). But this is the first time since the original Apollo landings that I think they actually are serious and have a real shot at doing it. It helps that companies are making their own efforts for their own reasons, it isn’t just NASA that is driving it.